What keeps the era of flying cars from taking off

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Noise, regulations and costs are challenges for the sector, but pioneering projects are underway, including in Brazil. The era of the flying car seems to be closer, but there are still many challenges to be solved Getty Images A new era of aviation is about to begin. On June 12, 2023, the Federal Aviation Agency of the United States (FAA) issued a Special Certificate of Airworthiness for a model of flying vehicle developed by the company Alef Aeronautics. The certificate allows the aircraft to be flown in limited locations for exhibition, research and development purposes. What is the flying car that Embraer, Gol and Azul want in the skies of Brazil Advanced Mobility Air (AAM) is a general expression to designate cargo or passenger aircraft with a high level of automation. Often referred to as air taxis or vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, these vehicles theoretically offer faster and safer door-to-door transportation. In Brazil, Embraer announced this Thursday (7/20), the 150th anniversary of the birth of Santos Dumont, that it will manufacture eVTOLs at a factory in Taubaté (SP), which will be expanded to meet the new demand. The forecast is that the first models will be delivered in 2026. The advantage of these flying vehicles is that their speed is not reduced by the physical infrastructure of the region, nor by congestion on land. And although the flying car is still a long way off, recognition of the Alef vehicle is a milestone in the history of air mobility. There are still many challenges to be solved before flying cars become a reality in cities around the world. Its constant noise during flight, takeoff and landing is just one of them. The founders of Alef started working with this concept in 2015 and created the first full-size flying car prototype in 2019. The Model A is a passenger car for two occupants, suitable for circulation on land, with a range of 322 km on the ground and 177 km in the air. Stylish and compact, the vehicle is designed to look like a regular car. It doesn’t need a runway to take off and even fits into traditional parking spaces. And the Model A design’s operating innovations are just as important as its form. The company claims the vehicle’s patented technology allows it to take off vertically and transform into a twin-engine mid-flight. Its doors turn into wings — an initiative to try to revolutionize our daily transport. But so far, actually seeing the Model A fly has been the privilege of a few investors, in a demonstration in 2019, according to the company’s website. And a number of technological difficulties remain unresolved. “Some of the components we need are simply not on the market yet,” explains Alef Aeronautics chief executive Jim Dukhovny. “For example, to avoid differential stress, we need highly specialized motor propulsion systems.” Size, weight and price restrictions will determine when these vehicles are available to the public and whether they can be safely driven. The pioneerA Alef, headquartered in California (USA), expects to start manufacturing the flying cars in 2025 or early 2026. But the vehicles are already available for pre-sale. The current price is US$300,000 (about R$1.44 million), but the company expects the scaled cost to be US$35,000 (about R$168,000). The Model A is considered an ultralight “low speed vehicle” — a legal classification originally reserved for golf carts and small electric vehicles. And it comes with very strict guidelines issued by the US Highway Traffic Safety Agency. “It’s a pioneer,” says Dukhovny. “When cars started replacing horses, a lot of similar questions arose: about safety, what would happen to cities… many wanted to go back to horses. If everything is done right, the flying car should be safer.” But the Model A is, after all, intended to be a car. And making a car sky-safe — that is, light and aerodynamic — can actually reduce its safety on the road. “The hardest part is still the transition: we don’t know what happens when the vehicle is transferred from land to air,” explains Dukhovny. Ideally, the land-to-air transfer of authority would be automatic, but there are complex obstacles, both legal and security. Urban air mobility operations will be primarily the responsibility of the national aviation agency of each country, such as the FAA, in the United States, and ANAC, in Brazil. Aviation agencies have jurisdiction over all operations in national airspace and are responsible for certifying new types of aircraft, following safety reviews. The role of cities in ensuring security will be to put into action the rules established by the agencies. The public is still waiting for a demonstration flight of the Model A car, designed by the American company Alef Alef Aeronautics The report raises some concerns without fully addressing them. These are questions about noise, pollution, safety, sustainability and cost. Who will drive the flying cars, for example? Will passengers need a permit? How will “vertiports” (the takeoff and landing points for this type of vehicle) and cars flying at high altitudes affect neighborhood life? Which jurisdiction will be responsible for a mid-air accident? The speed of these vehicles can cause collisions, either with buildings or between the cars themselves. Therefore, precise and scientifically guided planning of routes is essential. The FAA imagines that “air taxis” can operate in specific corridors between airports and vertiports in urban areas. But so far, there are no route and trajectory planning provisions for flying cars. No noiseAnd there is the issue of noise. It’s difficult to design flying cars that are exceptionally quiet, especially if large-scale commercial operation involves hundreds of takeoffs and landings per hour. Electric thrusters and other design elements of flying car propulsion can reduce noise pollution. In addition, planners will certainly need to consider the decibel noise level of vertiports or landing sites. But it may take strict government regulations to control noise levels. For this purpose, existing rules on air infrastructure in current regulations can be adopted — which are applied to traditional airports and heliports. In an effort to help manufacturers design quieter vehicles, NASA (the US space agency) has partnered with the FAA, university researchers and other industry leaders to develop software tools that can model and predict AAM noise. NASA’s campaign on advanced air mobility will study the human reaction to low-frequency noise, the limit of so-called “broadband noise” (sounds that humans cannot relate to specific sources) and how to predict what sound will be produced by this large number of vehicles flying simultaneously. Flying car is not the final solution to solve traffic jams, such as those in Los Angeles, in the United States Getty Images British company Arup offers design, engineering and sustainability services for urban environments. She recently held a round table to discuss the possibilities and disadvantages of the air mobility market. “The way cities have the most opportunity to enforce control is through operating permits,” according to Arup’s director in charge of San Francisco, Byron Thurber. “As with airlines and airports, municipalities have the authority to regulate the operation of commercial air mobility services,” he continues. “This could include rules on limits on operating hours, the maximum density of vertiports in certain neighborhoods and fares.” In other words, cities can limit when and where air taxi services can operate. Is this the end of congestion? It is perhaps not surprising that Los Angeles (USA), with its enormous congestion, is often mentioned as an early adopter of air mobility. But how can flying cars help unlock a city as congested as Los Angeles? “One thing to keep in mind is that urban air mobility is not going to eliminate congestion,” says Thurber. “In fact, we probably won’t see nearly as many vehicles in the sky as there are on the ground. And if we did, we would have congestion in the sky.” A more likely scenario is the use of air taxis in densely populated areas such as central London or New York during peak hours. Initially, the only ones able to fly might be the very rich passengers, as happened in the early days of commercial aviation. But over time, economies of scale can make flying cars affordable — especially if cities can incentivize companies to provide access and services to low-income neighborhoods. In 2021, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (Ladot) commissioned Arup to produce a report with structural observations on urban air mobility policy, with specific emphasis on isonomy of use. The report highlights that flying cars should be considered a subsidized municipal service and a public good. Once proof-of-concept has been established, rigorous testing has been carried out, and security risks have been reduced, advanced air mobility services should function similarly to libraries, schools, airports, and highways—not as a technology of concern, but as an asset accessible to the entire community. ‘Flying car’ to be used at Paris 2024 Olympics makes first test flight

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