Carl Dietrich, the chief executive and co-founder of Terrafugia, an aerospace company and his team have been working to bring consumers closer to the prospect of a practical flying car, envisioning a vehicle that does not require its operator to be a trained pilot. Thus, Boston-based Terrafugia announced that it had started working on the concept of TF-X, a four-seat, plug-in hybrid electric car that can do vertical take-offs and landings.
Although not driverless, Dietrich says the TF-X could increase the level of so-called "human directed local autonomy," a term he describes as a "big fancy phrase" that essentially means that the vehicle's operator won't need to have the knowledge or skills of a pilot. First flying car to go on sale in 2015 Driverless cars could let you sleep
"They don't need to know those things because the computer is plugged in to a data network that automatically helps them plan the flight path, avoid other air traffic and air space restrictions, things of that nature," says Dietrich. He explains that operators would still have to make high-level, critical decisions, like determining whether it's safe to take off and land or approve the landing zone in advance.
"Anything that happens on the ground, the person is going to make a call," says Dietrich. "Once you're flying, the actual operation of all the flight control surfaces is going to be computer controlled because, frankly, the computer can do it better than a pilot." Yet, if you have the vision that the semi-autonomous vehicle would help you escape annoying traffic jams by simply taking off the ground, you'd better think again.
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