Is this the first step toward a flying car?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/11/flying.car/index.html

Is this the first step toward a flying car?
Doug Gross, CNN
November 11, 2010
A concept rendering of the Transformer, a roadworthy vehicle that would carry four soldiers and take off like a helicopter.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A potential flying car is being researched and developed through a military program
Carnegie Mellon University got a $988,000 contract to develop flight system for "Transformer"
Vehicle would be able to transport troops on the ground, then take off vertically

(CNN) -- Along with the jetpack, the flying car tops the list of classic science-fiction imaginings that lead legions of fans to ask -- why don't we have this yet?

Now researchers, with some cash from the U.S. military, might be taking a step toward making these hovering vehicles -- seen in such diverse works as "Blade Runner" and "The Jetsons" -- a reality.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is awarding grants to scientists to help develop its Transformer program, which seeks to create a road-worthy vehicle that can take off vertically like a helicopter and fly.

This week, the robotics institute at Carnegie Mellon University was awarded a $988,000 contract to develop a flight system for the Transformer.

The institute has already worked on automated flying vehicles, which researchers say would be crucial to the success of a military craft that could go from an earthbound combat situation into the air seamlessly.

"The [Transformer] is all about flexibility of movement, and key to that concept is the idea that the vehicle could be operated by a soldier without pilot training," said Sanjiv Singh, a CMU research professor of robotics.

"In practical terms, that means the vehicle will need to be able to fly itself, or to fly with only minimal input from the operator. And this means that the vehicle has to be continuously aware of its environment and be able to automatically react in response to what it perceives."

Carnegie Mellon is one of six contractors DARPA has chosen for the Transformer, or TX, program. AAI Corp. and Lockheed Martin Co. were selected by DARPA to develop overall design concepts for the transforming vehicle.

DARPA frequently engages private-sector businesses and amateur technology buffs for for ideas on innovations that could be used on the battlefield and elsewhere.

Among them are a recurring robot race and a nationwide DARPA balloon hunt that awarded prizes to players who most efficiently used online networking to hunt down 10 weather balloons.

The vehicle DARPA is considering would be able to carry four troops and up to 1,000 pounds of equipment for 250 miles, either on land or through the air.

"Its enhanced mobility would increase survivability by making movements less predictable and would make the vehicle suitable for a wide variety of missions, such as scouting, resupply and medical evacuation," Carnegie Mellon said in a written release.

This isn't Carnegie Mellon's first outing with DARPA, or in the field of automated vehicles.

The university won DARPA's 2007 Urban Challenge robot road race with a self-driving SUV called "Boss."

They've worked on a self-driving submarine, and earlier this year had an autonomous helicopter demonstration. The Carnegie Mellon contract is for 17 months.

The Carnegie Mellon prototype follows the recent news that a Florida man built a flying car that was certified by the FAA.

Darpa Moves a Step Closer to Its Flying Humvee

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/darpa-moves-a-step-closer-to-its-flying-humvee/

Darpa Moves a Step Closer to Its Flying Humvee
Spencer Ackerman
September 29, 2010

In the spring, the futurists at Darpa rethought troop transport. Instead of adding armor or changing the shape to deflect bomb blasts, the agency reasoned, why not let it leap into the sky at the first sign of danger or inconvenience? That’s exactly what Darpa’s “Transformer” project is supposed to be: a mashup of a helicopter, plane and armored truck. And it just came a step closer to reality.

AAI Corporation, a Maryland-based aerospace and defense company, won a $3.05 million contract with Darpa to see if it the technology behind the Transformer can, well, get off the ground, Aviation Week reports. Based on so-called “compound helicopter” technology that the company is developing with Carter Aviation Technologies, the gist is that AAI’s design for the Transformer envisions it to carry four soldiers on the road as a car, but the rotor blades on top allow it to take off vertically into the air. The car’s takeoff functions are supposed to be automated, so soldiers or marines don’t have to be aviators to get it off the ground.

That’s not all. As Danger Room emerita Sharon Weinberger reported in June, it releases DeLorean-like retractable wings, allowing it to fly faster than a conventional helicopter. “Envision a Humvee-like vehicle with wings that fold out from the side and attach just above the rear door,” AAI Vice President Steven Reid told Weinberger. Elements of three vehicles in one.

Darpa laid out the need for the Transformer in an April request for proposals. With the threat of improvised explosive devices on the rise, the defense agency wanted an “unprecedented capability to avoid traditional and asymmetrical threats while avoiding road obstructions.” That meant, basically, a flying car — one that could perform all manner of tasks, from “strike and raid, intervention, interdiction, insurgency/counterinsurgency, reconnaissance, medical evacuation and logistical supply.” Oh, and it has to be able to climb to 10,000 feet and travel 250 miles on a single tank of gas, meaning it’s got to be green.

For fuel efficiency, it uses a ducted fan in the back to propel the Transformer forward. According to Weinberger’s account of AAI’s design, the fuel supply is in its wings — which might be an enticing target for an insurgent hoisting a rocket-propelled grenade or a shoulder-mounted missile.

And speaking of: Darpa’s “desirable” design considerations only specify that the Transformer carry a load of 1000 pounds and be “capable of handling small arms fire.” What kind of armor should it have to protect the troops inside? A soldier in Afghanistan recently e-mailed to quip that as cool as flying cars are, he doesn’t have any desire to travel in a flying casket.

Armoring questions — and others, like what kind of gun the thing should carry — are preliminary for now. AAI’s $3 million from Darpa takes it through the first phase of the contract, which covers feasibility studies for the company’s design in terms of “propulsion, adaptable wing structures, lightweight materials, advanced flight control system, air/ground configuration designs and energy storage and distribution.”

That lasts until about fall 2011. If AAI passes its tests, it still won’t have to produce even a partial prototype until 2013. And this isn’t the first time Darpa’s tried to get defense companies to build a flying car — remember the Personal Air Vehicle Technology car-plane? — so even if AAI’s design hits a snag, it’s probably not going to be the last, either.

Flying car? Dept of Defense OKs new Jetsons-like vehicle

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0422/Flying-car-Dept-of-Defense-OKs-new-Jetsons-like-vehicle

Flying car? Dept of Defense OKs new Jetsons-like vehicle
The US Dept of Defense has budgeted $54 million so far to develop the flying car and believes it will take four years to develop a prototype.
Ned Smith, TechNewsDaily / April 22, 2010

The Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) has cleared the Transformer (TX) program for takeoff. If it flies, by 2015 U.S. soldiers will be able to ride into battle aboard a four-person flying car that can cruise in the air like an airplane, drive on the ground like an SUV, rove 250 miles on one tank of fuel and not require a runway to get airborne.

DARPA, the Department of Defense office that is tasked with exploring futuristic technologies that may have military applications, held an industry day workshop for companies earlier this year to solicit proposals for developing a prototype vehicle. Proposals are due May 27.

Transformer

The Transformer will give troops the ability to avoid traditional and unconventional threats such as ambushes and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and road obstructions.DARPA envisions a variety of use-case scenarios for the TX, including strike and raid, interdiction, intervention, insurgency/counterinsurgency, reconnaissance, medical evacuation and logistics supply.

The notion of a flying car isn’t new. Remember the flying cars in Sim City 2000? What is new with the TX is pumping up the concept by demanding both enhanced performance and durability. Think of the TX as a super-mobile Humvee on steroids.

Vehicle specifications call for a robust four-passenger vehicle that can carry a 1,000-pound payload, perform on a variety of surfaces like an SUV and rapidly take off and land vertically (VTOL). (Read Coolest Vehicles You'll Never Get to Ride.)

It has to be able to fly as high as 10,000 feet with a minimum cruise speed of a light, single-engine airplane like a Cessna or Piper. It has to quickly change between ground and flight operations. The TX will also have to take into consideration ground crash safety for its occupants, handling, braking and passenger comfort.

A flying humvee

DARPA wants the TX to have the ability to automatically take off and land without a pilot while still offering a manual mode that would let the vehicle operator make flight steering commands in real time. Other desirable features are good forward and side visibility from inside the vehicle, dirt-road capability, easy reconfiguration for medical evacuation missions, low top profile and high ground clearance, four-wheel drive capability and the ability to handle small arms fire.

Technologies that DARPA told companies it was interested in seeing incorporated in their proposals include hybrid electric drive, advanced batteries, adaptive wing structures, ducted fan propulsion systems, advanced lightweight heavy fuel engines, lightweight materials and advanced sensors.

The Pentagon has budgeted $54 million so far to develop the concept. DARPA says it will take four years to develop a working prototype, a DARPA spokesman told TechNewsDaily.

“We’re not very far down the road,” he said. “That gives you an idea about the glide path for this program.”

Flying car takes high road to Timbuktu

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/14/flying.car

January 14, 2009
Flying car takes high road to Timbuktu
By Phil Black

Story Highlights
Flying car takes off from London to Timbuktu, Mali, in West Africa
Skycar is road-legal all-terrain buggy with rear propeller and fabric wing~
Trip is through France, Spain and Morocco, then Western Sahara to Timbuktu

LONDON, England (CNN) -- From the noisy and lovable Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to the time-traveling DeLorean in "Back to the Future," flying cars have been a fixture of movies and science fiction that never quite cut it in the real world -- until now.

The Skycar's fabric wing is folded and packed in the back of the car when driving on the road.

A flying car devised by a British inventor and a team of engineers took off from London on Wednesday on an epic journey to Timbuktu, Mali, in West Africa -- a trip they hope will prove the fantasy has become reality.

The "Skycar" is a road-legal all-terrain buggy with a huge rear propeller and a fabric wing, the result of 18 months of design and research.

"We started with a car rather than starting with an aircraft and made a car into an aircraft," said Skycar's creator, Giles Cardozo. "It's a really exciting piece of kit to drive but of course, it also flies."

The Skycar's 3,720-mile (6,000-kilometer) trip will take it through France, Spain and Morocco, then the Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali to the famously isolated city of Timbuktu.

Its design gives it the performance of a motorbike while also allowing it to fly over impassable terrain and the sand seas of the Sahara, the designers said. They hope to fly over the Straits of Gibraltar.

In propeller mode, the engine makes a lot of noise. The two-person seat is a tight fit with room for a driver and a passenger who controls the car in flight.

Experienced adventurer Neil Laughton is the designated pilot of the craft on its epic journey.

"I'm a bit nervous, but that's what adventure and exploration's all about," Laughton told CNN. Watch as flying car takes off »

Although some eccentric-looking flying cars have been attempted before, Cardozo and his team of engineers say advances in flexible wing technology have made their car more practical, with more precise handling and increased safety over traditional rigid wings.

The flexible wing is folded and packed in the back of the car when driving on the road and can deploy immediately when it is ready to fly.

The car, which runs on biofuel, has a takeoff speed of 73 km/h (45 mph) and requires a distance of less than 200 meters (220 yards), meaning it can take off on a beach or in a park.

He admits the Skycar has trouble in high wind or turbulence, but it has some safety measures.

"It will be easier and safer to fly than any other aircraft, as it has no pitch control and (is) therefore impossible to stall or dive," the inventors say. "Should the engine fail, the pilot would simply glide down into the nearest field or strip of sandy desert. In the event of catastrophic wing failure, car connection system failure or mid-air collision, an emergency ballistic reserve parachute can be deployed."

The expedition hopes to help out some charities along the way, and if it is successful the car's creators hope to market it commercially.

"If people see the fun in this and it catches on, I think it could be a great fun toy," Cardozo said. "It's not your everyday means of transport by any means, but it's a great, fun alternative way of getting around -- like a quad bike, like a Jet Ski, like anything like that."

Cardozo hopes his "toy" will arrive in Timbuktu by late February, proving that flying cars aren't just the stuff of movies or children's stories anymore.

Photos courtesy of CNET.com