Flying Cars At CES 2020 And Gallery Of Photos

At the other end of the spectrum, two tiny companies had small exhibits. They preach the true “flying car” vision, which includes a vehicle which can drive on roads and it in a standard parking space or garage. Driving on roads comes at a high cost in weight, and today weight is very much at a premium in e-VTOL designs. On the other hand it solves the problem of the transition from places you can land (which will accept your noise and privacy invasions) and the places you actually want to travel to and from.

Below is a new vehicle from an Australian venture called Pegasus which is very close to a traditional helicopter, and is not pure electric — the range of a pure electric helicopter would be fairly poor. Also present in a small booth was the Aska, which is a more modern e-VTOL vehicle with folding wings and tilting rotors and a car-like appearance. (I have been providing advice to Aska on an informal basis.)

The true flying cars accept the huge cost of the weight of the ground equipment because they feel it’s important to travel in the same vehicle all the way to and from your real destination, and because it’s an open question how landing spaces and storage will be managed for vehicles that can’t move on the ground once they land. (Some vehicles may have small, light wheels and be towed or capable of very slow movement to at least get off the precious landing spaces.) The field is still immature and there are many questions to answer about what the right solution is.

Each year for CES I generate a gallery of notes on other things I saw there around photos. You can peruse that gallery here in an online photo album. When viewing the album, use the “i” key or icon to turn on captions or it won’t make much sense. Several of these photos center on transportation and robocars, but there are many about other technologies from around the floor.