Why Critics Of Flying Cars Will Be Just As Wrong As The Critics Of Virtual Reality

As a child of the 80s, I remember the first iterations of Virtual Reality. My first experience with "VR" was when I bought a brand new Nintendo Virtual Boy for a whopping $50. You see - Nintendo's new tech at the time had some shortcomings, they counted it as a loss and the price dropped one day from about $200 to $50. I was elated - I finally had my own VR device - peace out, reality - hello fantasy world!

Except, it kind of wasn't like that.

Red pixels, red lines - even the device was red! You sat there hunched over at a table with the thing sitting awkwardly on a stand. Not only did it not track movements, it made your back sore and your dreams a bright red. Despite that - I felt like I was nearly in the future.

Virtual Reality in the 80s and 90s was the laughing stock of the world. Indeed there were many gimmicks and fly-by-night operations. At first, even the big corporations seemed to be invested in the concept. Hundreds, if not thousands of HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) were developed, prototyped, and some even reached the production stage. I remember the news stories every time one of these devices was introduced. To me, VR seemed like something that could put you in the middle of a fantasy - an experience that would change your life, forever. But unfortunately - the claims of the companies did not live up to the hype.

Flash forward to the early 2000s. Virtual Reality is dead, or at least in a coma. Only the military, medical researchers and some con artists wanting to make a quick buck are thinking of VR. At this time, VR was a bit of a joke to me - something that sounded great on paper, but was mediocre in it's delivery. One day, I'm walking through the mall, when I see one of these con artist with this huge plastic headset. They tell me I can experience real VR for $3. I reluctantly pay and put the plastic box on...

...and I'm subjected to crappy graphics, a 5 fps frame rate and the humiliation of wearing this colorful plastic bucket on my head in the middle of a mall. I can here people cracking jokes all around me. I quickly take the thing off, tell the guy it was great and rush out of the mall, traumatized - I decide that VR will never be serious. In fact, I don't even think about it every again for at least a decade.

One day, I'm surfing the internet. There's big news, at least for gamers. In 2013, this guy named Palmer Lucky, who was tired of garbage VR, took it upon himself to make this thing called the Oculus Rift. Everyone says it's great and a revolution. I warily watch all the reviews of this "DK1". Everyone likes it. Then the DK2 comes out. I order one, knowing that it's just a prototype. I strap it on..

...my mind is blown. It's beautiful, it's real Virtual Reality. It's exactly like what I had imagined as a child. Nowadays, I have an Oculus Go. It's not a gimmick. It's not crappy - it's amazing. VR is finally here to stay. It's being utilized in various fields and there are some big companies who have invested a fortune in the tech (and yes, they already have devices for sale, some in their 2nd or 3rd generation). VR was brought back to life - or was it? Maybe there was more to it...

One day, while doing research on current flying cars in development, I had an epiphany - not only are flying cars are viable, they are coming soon! Why? Because, just like Virtual Reality - technology has finally caught up with them.

Articles on flying cars are generally neutral, at best. The usually bias is something like this;

"Drivers have enough trouble in 2D, now imagine that in 3 dimensions!"

"Flying cars are gimmicks that never get past the prototype stage"

"How will air traffic control deal with all of them? How will people not run into each other?"

As negative and biased as the articles are - they have a point, or should I say, had. These arguments are not based in modern tech. In fact, I heard these arguments as a kid. These critics often make many statements without doing the research. Like

this article

that stated that the AVE Mizar was the FIRST flying car. They probably wouldn't know that there are a few modern flying cars that can buy and fly right now, like the Skyrunner or the Maverick. They probably wouldn't know that Terrafugia has already built a working, viable flying car, has made numerous successful test flights and is on the verge of selling their Terrafugia Transition to the public. They probably wouldn't know about the Switchblade or the Larry Page backed Blackfly. Who knows, maybe I'm being too harsh.

The fact of the matter is that flying cars are here - and they are here to stay. What changed? Well, just like smart phone screens were the key modern VR, lithium ion batteries, AI and brushless motors are that same key to modern flying cars. Sure, there are roadable aircraft like the Switchblade and the Transition, but they benefit from tech too, like carbon fiber construction.

Boeing, Bell, Airbus and Uber are not fly by night operations. They have recognized the need for these vehicles and see that now it's possible to construct these fantasy vehicles of the future. Just like VR, the flying car is back in the public eye and is being taken seriously. The critics and naysayers may be asking "where's my flying car?" now, but just give it a few years. They be traveling in their air taxis - forgetting everything the said about it a few years earlier.

- Emil Lewis

Flying Car Trends