<h2>Ready for Liftoff</h2>
The relationship between vehicles and roads will change dramatically if cars start to take to the skies, as <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/flying-cars-japan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many predict they will</a>.
So what&#8217;s a tire manufacturer to do if it seems tires might not be as vital in the future? Goodyear has an idea: create tires that double as propellers.
&#8220;With mobility companies looking to the sky for the answer to the challenges of urban transport and congestion,&#8221; Goodyear CTO Chris Helsel said in a new <a href="https://news.goodyear.eu/the-goodyear-aero--a-concept-tire-for-autonomous-flying-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>, &#8220;our work on advanced tire architectures and materials led us to imagine a wheel that could serve both as a traditional tire on the road and as a propulsion system in the sky.&#8221;
<h2>AERO-dynamic</h2>
Goodyear <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/goodyear-flying-car-tire-geneva-motor-show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> the concept tire, named the AERO, at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show on Tuesday.
The idea is that the AERO will serve the same purpose as a traditional tire while a car is in drive mode. To take flight, two of the tires rotate so they&#8217;re horizontal with the ground while the other two remain vertical — kind of like the flying cars in &#8220;Back to the Future Part II.&#8221;
A magnetic propulsion system forces the spokes of the horizontal tires to begin spinning, and they act as propeller blades to lift the vehicle into the air, at which point all four tires move into propeller mode.
In addition to the tech that allows the AERO to function as a propeller, the concept tire also incorporates a bevy of other technologies, including fiber optic sensors and an artificially intelligent processor.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4vbZlzxpr8M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Techy Tires</h2>
According to Goodyear, we shouldn&#8217;t expect to see AEROs rolling off the production line — and into the sky — any time soon. Some of the tech the concept tire contains, however, could make it into production in the near future.
&#8220;While the AERO is a purely conceptual design, some of its featured technologies, such as a non-pneumatic structure and intelligent tire capabilities, are being developed by Goodyear today,&#8221; according to the press release, &#8220;while others might become the basis for new ideas and potentially new products in the future.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/goodyear-flying-car-tire-geneva-motor-show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goodyear&#8217;s Newest Tire Is for Flying Cars</a> [CNET]
More on flying cars: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/flying-cars-japan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan Wants to Be the First Place Where Flying Cars Are Standard Because of Course</a>

Take a look at Goodyear's vision for the future of transport.

Goodyear's new concept tire doubles as a flying car propeller

Two-Fer Tires

Goodyear unveiled a concept tire that rotates to give lift to a flying car at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show on Tuesday.

Goodyear’s New Concept Tire Doubles as a Flying Car Propeller

The tires rotate and point downwards, like the ones on the flying cars in "Back to the Future Part II."

Would you be OK with a caterpillar robot crawling all over your insides, even if it meant it would deliver helpful medications in the process? That might be a choice you have to make in the future. To glimpse what else we&#8217;ve seen in our crystal ball, read on.
<a href="https://futurism.com/scientists-want-horrifying-caterpillar-robot-inside-body/">Scientists Want to Put a Horrifying Caterpillar Robot Inside Your Body.</a> Researchers in Hong Kong have invented a robot that looks like a caterpillar. It&#8217;s designed to travel through your body and release drugs.
<a href="https://futurism.com/machine-learning-coma-patients-live/">Should Coma Patients Live or Die? Machine Learning Will Help Decide.</a> An algorithm is helping Chinese researchers determine if a coma patient will wake up again.
<a href="https://futurism.com/koncepto-milenya-flying-sports-car/">This “Flying Sports Car” Is Like a Giant Drone You Can Ride In.</a> This week, Philippine inventor Kyxz Mendiola took his Koncepto Milenya, a flying sports car prototype, out for its first public test flight.
<a href="https://futurism.com/robots-weave-fiberglass-structures/">These Robots Weave Super Durable Fiberglass Structures So Humans Don’t Have To.</a> MIT researchers have created Fiberbots, autonomous robots that can weave fiberglass into tall tubes that we could one day use for construction projects.
<a href="https://futurism.com/spotify-playlist-dna/">Spotify Will Make a Playlist Based on Your DNA.</a> Provide the results of your AncestryDNA test, and Spotify will provide a &#8220;mix of music, inspired by your origins.&#8221; It&#8217;s a cute idea, but nah.
<a href="https://futurism.com/service-robots/">Robots Are Coming for Service Jobs.</a> Automation is eating into food and hospitality jobs. Unions are demanding measures that will protect staff from being replaced by robots.
More on tech: <a href="https://futurism.com/week-tech-sept-15-21/">This Week in Tech: Sept 15-21</a>

Missed all the tech news this week somehow? Here's your weekly digest.

This week in tech: Sept 22-28

Sci-Fi Visions

Missed all the tech news this week somehow? Here's your weekly digest: from horrifying caterpillar robots to flying sports car.

This Week in Tech: Sept 22-28

Horrifying caterpillar robots, flying sports cars, DNA playlists, and more.

<h2>PRETTY FLY</h2>
The founding member of an award-winning hip-hop dance troupe hangs up his sneakers to engineer a flying sports car. Tale as old as time, right?
Yeah, not exactly. But it&#8217;s the path former dancer Kyxz Mendiola has carved out for himself.
Six years ago, Mendiola decided he was sick of dealing with traffic, so he did what anyone in a similar situation would: started <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-to-eliminate-traffic-im-going-to-build-a-machine-and-just-start-digging/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><del>digging tunnels</del></a> building a flying car.
He calls the craft, which looks a lot like a giant remote controlled drone, the “Koncepto Millenya.&#8221; On Sunday he took it out for its first public test flight in the Philippine province of Batangas. It lasted about 10 minutes.
“It was amazing,” the Filipino inventor <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-drone/philippine-inventor-aims-to-cut-travel-times-with-passenger-drone-idUSKCN1M619C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Reuters</a>. “All the hard work paid off. Everything worked perfect.”
<h2>THE SPECS`</h2>
Koncepto Milenya seats just one person weighing up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Its six lithium-ion batteries power 16 rotary motors, which allow the craft to reach a height of 6.1 meters (20 feet) and a top speed of 60 kph (37 mph).
According to Mendiola, who co-founded the Philippine All Stars hip-hop dance group in 2005, flying the craft is pretty simple.
“Press a button and it will go up, then push the stick forward, it goes forward,&#8221; he told Reuters. &#8220;It’s very smart, that’s why I’m saying it has a lot of potential.&#8221;
<h2>MASS PRODUCTION</h2>
Mendiola is working with Australian company Star8 to further develop the vehicle, with the goal of mass producing it. Star8&#8217;s CEO told Reuters he wants to market the flying sports car in Australia, Europe, and Hong Kong.
No word on when Koncepto Milenya might come to the U.S., so traffic-averse Americans will just have to hope Elon Musk&#8217;s tunneling scheme works out.
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READ MORE: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-drone/philippine-inventor-aims-to-cut-travel-times-with-passenger-drone-idUSKCN1M619C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philippine Inventor Aims to Cut Travel Times With Passenger Drone</a> [Reuters]
More on flying cars: <a href="https://futurism.com/how-close-are-we-really-to-flying-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How Close Are We Really to Flying Cars?</a>

The craft is already on the path to mass production.

This "flying sports car" is like a giant drone you can ride in

Advanced Transport

This week, Philippine inventor Kyxz Mendiola took his Koncepto Milenya, a flying sports car prototype, out for its first public test flight.

This “Flying Sports Car” Is Like a Giant Drone You Can Ride In

The first test ride lasted 10 minutes, and "everything worked perfect.”

<h2>LET&#8217;S GO FLY A KITE</h2>
Flying cars always work perfectly in the movies. But now that we’re close to actually building some, we’re finding they come with <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-flying-taxi-skyports-concepts/">all sorts of problems</a>. Perhaps the most prominent technological hurdle: striking the delicate balance between equipping the vehicles with a battery powerful enough to actually do anything useful, and not having a battery so heavy that it weighs down the entire vehicle.
One California start-up came up with a new solution that involves keeping so-called flying cars on a pretty short leash. Karman Electric proposes tethering <a href="https://futurism.com/evtol-flying-taxi-uk/">flying cars</a> to a crisscrossed network of power lines. As WIRED reported, they already began <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/karman-electric-flying-car-air-taxi-power-lines/">testing the concept with quadcopter drones</a>.
<h2>TRAFFIC JAM</h2>
Tethering a flying car to the ground may avoid the big battery problem, but it introduces a whole slew of other logistical problems.
In order to prevent bird strikes and collisions with primitive, terrestrial commuters, Karman envisions flying cars that use this upside-down trolley system in less populated areas (another problem: who&#8217;s gonna pay for that?). As they approach cities and towns, pilots would be able to detach from their earthly bonds and use stored-up battery power to elevate above those land-bound suckers.
<h2>HEY HERE&#8217;S A THOUGHT</h2>
If the most energy-efficient way to use a flying car is to tether it to the ground on a specific, pre-defined pathway, why not just take a train? We already have those, and they work pretty well.
READ MORE: To Solve Flying Cars&#8217; Biggest Problem, Tie Them to Power Lines [<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/karman-electric-flying-car-air-taxi-power-lines/">WIRED</a>]
More on the challenges of flying cars: <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-flying-taxis/">Uber Plans To Launch Flying Taxis With Technology That Doesn’t Exist</a>

It's less sexy, but you could probably just take a train.

Flying cars may work best when tethered to power lines

To make flying cars more practical, one company suggests tethering them to the ground and making them run along a network of power lines.

Flying Cars May Work Best When Tethered to Power Lines

Flying cars in the movies don't seem burdened by heavy batteries like in the real world.

<h2>WE HAVE LIFTOFF</h2>
British aerospace startup Vertical Aerospace doesn&#8217;t want to be like other flying car companies. Those other guys can handle the shorter trips, the way a taxi might — but Vertical Aerospace wants to use flying cars to transport people between cities. And the company claims its electric aircraft, which it recently tested for the first time, can do it more efficiently than a jet.
&#8220;Passenger numbers for short haul flights have exploded in recent years, but as a result aviation is now a major contributor to climate change and local air pollution,&#8221; CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/uberair-flying-taxis/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CNN</a>. &#8220;We want to decarbonize air travel and give people the freedom to fly from their local neighborhood directly to their destination.&#8221;
<h2>PROOF OF CONCEPT</h2>
A<a href="https://youtu.be/0igN2C6Si5s" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> new video</a> shows the first flight of Vertical Aerospace&#8217;s electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. It stays in the air thanks to four rotors like a quadcopter drone. In the clip, the craft lifts into the air at an English airport to hover about 10 meters (33 feet) above the ground for several minutes.
Like most other VTOLs, Vertical Aerospace&#8217;s craft takes off like a helicopter. After that, it cruises parallel to the ground like a plane, potentially at speeds as fast as 80 kph (50 mph.) Its target journey length will be between 100 and 150 kilometers (62 to 93 miles.)
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<h2>FIRST IN FLIGHT</h2>
With that demonstration flight, which took place in June, the company became the first in the U.K. to test out a full-scale flying taxi prototype. It also moved one step closer to its goal of using eVTOL&#8217;s to make medium-distance travel sustainable.
Don&#8217;t expect to trade in your train ticket for a trip aboard a Vertical Aerospace&#8217;s eVTOL any time soon, though. The company still has some kinks in the prototype to work out, plus regulatory hurdles to overcome, meaning the service likely won&#8217;t be available for at least another <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-taxi-startup-vertical-aerospace-wants-to-launch-service-by-2022-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four years</a>.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-taxi-startup-vertical-aerospace-wants-to-launch-service-by-2022-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This 28-Person Startup Took a Big First Step Towards Launching a Nationwide Flying Taxi Service by 2022</a> [Business Insider]
More on flying taxis: <a href="https://futurism.com/3-ubers-flying-taxis-soon-to-fly-in-dubai-and-dallas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uber Just Promised to Bring Flying Taxis to Life in 3 Years</a>

The company says its flying car will be greener than a jet.

The UK’s first flying taxi wants to take you farther than just across town

Vertical Aerospace just tested its eVTOL vehicle for the first time, and the craft could eventually make medium-distance travel more sustainable.

The UK’s First Flying Taxi Wants to Take You Farther Than Just Across Town

This car flies like a drone, and it might someday be the way you travel between cities.

LOOKING AHEAD. The Japanese government <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/02/business/tech/japanese-government-give-flying-cars-jump-start/#.W4BSsJNKhE4">sees flying cars</a> as the panacea to some of the nation&#8217;s traffic issues — the vehicles will decrease congestion, boost tourism, and increase access to remote areas.
So, naturally, the nation wants to be the world leader in the developing the vehicles. Now it has a dream team of companies on board to help it reach its goal, according to a statement released by the trade ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
TEAM FLYING CARS. Twenty-one companies and organizations have joined a Japanese government-led group designed to lay out the roadmap to flying car adoption in Japan.
Amongst those are some of the biggest players in the space, including <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-ceo-flying-cars-only-decade-away/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uber</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-01/boeing-is-getting-ready-to-sell-flying-taxis-within-a-decade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boeing</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/airbus-electric-flying-taxis-are-set-to-take-to-the-skies-next-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Airbus</a>. Delegates from each group member will meet on August 29 to figure out a plan that will get flying cars to Japan in the next decade.
A GOVERNMENT LEADER. While not everyone(see: <a href="https://futurism.com/5-elon-musk-flying-cars-are-definitely-not-the-future-of-transport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a>) is on board with the idea of flying cars, if the futuristic transportation is ever going to take off, it&#8217;ll likely need a government leading the charge, and Japan appears ready to step up on that front.
“It’s necessary for the government to take a lead and coordinate on setting safety standards,” Yasuo Hashimoto, a researcher at Tokyo-based Japan Aviation Management Research, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-24/uber-airbus-are-said-to-be-enlisted-in-japan-s-flying-car-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Bloomberg</a>. “They are trying to set a tone for the industry ahead of other countries.”
We&#8217;ll see if Japan is able to meet its ambitious goal of serving as the world leader in flying cars. But it certainly won&#8217;t fail because it lacks the right partners in its corner.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-24/uber-airbus-are-said-to-be-enlisted-in-japan-s-flying-car-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uber and Airbus Enlist in Japan’s Flying-Car Plan</a> [Bloomberg]
More on flying cars: <a href="https://futurism.com/5-elon-musk-flying-cars-are-definitely-not-the-future-of-transport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk: Flying Cars Are Definitely Not the Future of Transport</a>

Uber, Boeing, and others have signed on to help Japan reach its goal.

Japan wants to be the first place where flying cars are standard because of course

Japan has assembled a team of 21 companies and organization to help bring flying cars to the nation within the next ten years.

Japan Wants to Be the First Place Where Flying Cars Are Standard Because of Course

And it has a dream team of companies ready to help it.

Nothing screams &#8220;the future&#8221; more than the promise of flying cars. Many a driver, stuck in horribly gridlocked traffic, has dreamed of the day when she&#8217;ll be able to skip over all this mess and take to the sky.
Now, we may no longer be stuck with <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-flying-taxi-skyports-concepts/">aspirational drawings of &#8220;skyports&#8221;</a> or super distant timelines (are Uber&#8217;s flying taxis coming in a <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-ceo-flying-cars-only-decade-away/">decade</a> or in <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-nasa-bring-flying-cars-next-two-years/">two years</a>? which is it?). Kitty Hawk, Larry Page&#8217;s flying car project, recently completed a test flight.
But it wasn&#8217;t just any old test flight — CNN reporter and definitely-not-a-trained-pilot Rachel Crane<a href="http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2018/06/06/exclusive-kitty-hawk-flyer-public-flight.cnnmoney/"> was the one in the cockpit</a>. Admittedly, her flight wasn&#8217;t all that impressive: she piloted Kitty Hawk&#8217;s Flyer for five minutes at about 10 kilometers per hour (6 miles per hour) and about three meters (ten feet) over a body of water (in the name of safety).
But! Crane was able to get the hang of the minimalist two-joystick controls after a training session that lasted less than an hour.
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While the test flight shows we&#8217;re not exactly ready for a traffic-dodging future here, it does indicate that future pilots won&#8217;t need years of training to safely pilot a flying car, when they get the chance to do so. Driving a flying car could be as simple as — or even simpler than — driving a car.
Before you get too excited, though, some limitations:
<ul>
<li>Kitty Hawk&#8217;s Flyer is a recreational vehicle — it won&#8217;t replace your family sedan any time soon.</li>
<li>Despite the vehicle&#8217;s small size, the lithium polymer battery that powers it lasts only for about  20 minutes.</li>
<li>There are still major regulatory and infrastructure hurdles, such as the establishment of air traffic control systems, and vehicle safety standards.</li>
<li>Even though it&#8217;s exciting to drive a flying car, it might be a long road for the public to accept the vehicles overall (they&#8217;re kind of flying death traps, are they not?).</li>
</ul>
Lead engineer Todd Reichert says that the Flyer is just the beginning of a larger plan to eliminate traffic on the ground entirely. &#8220;We&#8217;re on sort of a story arc from recreation, to exploration, to transportation, and we will have to evolve along the way,&#8221; he <a href="http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2018/06/06/exclusive-kitty-hawk-flyer-public-flight.cnnmoney/index.html">tells Crane</a> in the CNN segment.
But Kitty Hawk has other plans to dominate the skies. Another aircraft, called <a href="https://cora.aero/press/">Cora</a>, is probably more of what you&#8217;d picture when someone says &#8220;flying car.&#8221; It&#8217;s a two-seater electric aircraft, intended to be used as a flying taxi (not personal vehicle) in cities. But so far, details about its release date and cost are sparse, if not non-existent.
The day in which we might all be able to ride in flying cars feels closer than ever. But, the truth is, we don&#8217;t really know for sure. Kitty Hawk seems to be answering some of the questions about how we&#8217;ll ride in these vehicles. Now, the question that remains, is when.

The day in which we get to simply fly over traffic jams may be closer than ever.

The first real flying car is open for test flights

A CNN reporter was able to pilot this flying vehicle with less than an hour of training. But is the Flyer really going to replace traffic on the ground?

The First Real Flying Car Is Open for Test Flights

And you can learn how to pilot one in less than an hour.

There are companies working on <a href="https://futurism.com/uber-nasa-bring-flying-cars-next-two-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flying cars</a>, and there are those developing flying cars that are autonomous. The latter are referred to as drones, though they&#8217;re capable of ferrying passengers. Many see flying passenger drones as the future of urban mobility, and rumor has it that Porsche has one in the works.
While the German automaker hasn&#8217;t confirmed or offered much by way of details, a German automotive industry news site <a href="https://www.automobilwoche.de/article/20180303/BCONLINE/180309953/1276/exklusiv--designskizze-vor-praesentation-porsche-arbeitet-an-eigenem-lufttaxi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automobilwoche</a> claims the company is close to releasing the first design sketches. Porsche has yet to comment on the report, but the company&#8217;s sales director, Detlev von Platen, supposedly hinted at the possibility.
&#8220;It would take three and a half minutes to fly the plane,&#8221; von Platen told Automobilwoche, referring to how long it would take him to fly a passenger drone from Porsche&#8217;s Zuffenhausen manufacturing plant to Stuttgart Airport. A typical drive would take him &#8220;at least half an hour.&#8221;
Like most other passenger drone concepts, Porsche&#8217;s would supposedly let passengers have some control over the vehicle — but most of the flying would be automated. In practical terms, that means drivers-turned-pilots wouldn&#8217;t need to have a pilot&#8217;s license.
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Beyond that, we don&#8217;t know too much about the potential project — though, given similar projects currently in development, we can imagine the possibilities. Several other companies around the globe have autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) concepts and flying taxi services in the works, including <a href="https://futurism.com/nevada-to-begin-testing-autonomous-passenger-drones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the EHang 184</a> from a Chinese company of the same name. The company recently showed footages of the AAV in action. There&#8217;s also a Detroit-based startup, AirSpaceX, which claims it will have a working <a href="https://futurism.com/airspacex-autonomous-electric-flying-taxi-hit-skies-2026/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">autonomous flying taxi by 2026</a>.
In general, many veteran carmakers are staking a claim in the AAV business: Daimler, the parent company for Mercedez-Benz, teamed up with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) maker Volocopter. The latter&#8217;s work includes those <a href="https://futurism.com/dubai-says-they-successfully-tested-the-first-autonomous-flying-taxi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flying taxis recently tested in Dubai</a>. Volvo parent company Geely, meanwhile, <a href="https://futurism.com/volvo-acquired-flying-car-company/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bought flying car company Terrafugia</a> last November 2017.
If the pressure of the other company&#8217;s projects has put the heat on Porsche to get in the game, we may see those designs for a passenger drone soon. In the meantime, Volkswagen, Porsche&#8217;s parent company, has already been working with Airbus on a <a href="https://futurism.com/airbus-has-revealed-its-flying-car-drone-hybrid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pop.Up car-drone hybrid</a>, through its design and engineering arm, Italdesign.

Porsche has yet to comment on the report, but sales director Detlev von Platen has supposedly hinted at the possibility.

Report hints Porsche might have a passenger drone in the works

A recent report claims that German carmaker Porsche has a flying passenger drone concept in the works. The passenger drone, which Porsche hasn't confirmed yet, won't require the driver to have a pilot's license to operate.

Report Hints Porsche Might Have a Passenger Drone in the Works

And an autonomous flying car wouldn't require a pilot's license to operate.

The air taxi service will soon begin testing in the state of Nevada and Dubai.

Ehang air taxi takes off with passengers for the first time

EHang's 184 air taxi is set to begin testing with passengers in Dubai and the state of Nevada.

Ehang Air Taxi Takes Flight With Passengers For The First Time

Ehang Air Taxi Takes Flight With Passengers for the First Time

<h2>Flying With the Times</h2>
While some university degrees are relatively timeless, the typical four-year college curriculum can&#8217;t always keep up with the <a href="https://futurism.com/2-by-the-time-you-are-a-junior-in-college-what-you-learned-as-a-freshman-is-already-obsolete-nasa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pace of technology</a>. By the time a student graduates, the information they learned early on in their education could already be obsolete. Enter <a href="https://www.udacity.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Udacity</a>, a Silicon Valley-based online school offering specialized &#8220;nanodegree&#8221; programs.
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/flying-cars-of-tomorrow-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/06/Homepage-Thumbnail-7-900x600.jpg" alt="Flying Cars: A Future Buyer&#8217;s Guide [Infographic]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/flying-cars-of-tomorrow-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
Udacity&#8217;s co-founder Sebastian Thrun is considered an expert in two of today&#8217;s hottest emerging technology fields: self-driving vehicles and flying cars. He previously worked on <a href="https://futurism.com/waymo-chrysler-pacifica-san-francisco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google&#8217;s self-driving car project</a> and is currently the CEO of <a href="https://kittyhawk.aero/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flying car startup Kitty Hawk</a>, which is funded by <a href="https://futurism.com/4-your-first-look-at-larry-pages-flying-car/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alphabet CEO Larry Page</a>.
Udacity already offers a nanodegree in self-driving vehicles, and now, Thrun is launching a flying car degree program. It will run for two 12-week terms, the first focused on aerial robotics and the second on intelligent air systems. Each term costs $1,200, but students who apply before February 7 can take the first for $899.
<h2>Today&#8217;s Degrees for Tomorrow&#8217;s World</h2>
According to Thurn, finding people qualified to engineer the vehicles of tomorrow is almost impossible. “There is a huge shortage of engineers. There are plenty of smart people &#8211; the missing link is education,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-auto-flyingcars-degree/self-driving-car-experts-offer-online-degree-in-flying-cars-idUSKBN1FC2KE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he told </a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-auto-flyingcars-degree/self-driving-car-experts-offer-online-degree-in-flying-cars-idUSKBN1FC2KE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a>.
To design self-driving or flying vehicles, engineers must have a solid grasp of advanced technology, such as robotics and artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning. A flying car degree program like Udacity&#8217;s could fill this gap in knowledge.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/252444680" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" title="Build the Future of Flight with Udacity!" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
Right now, the potential for intelligent machines to render much of the human workforce obsolete is a major concern. Some experts, <a href="https://futurism.com/world-bank-chief-robots-have-put-us-on-a-dangerous-crash-course/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">including World Bank president Jim Yong Kim</a>, suggest the need to develop human capital to keep the workers of the future relevant.
Investing in education is one such solution, and Udacity seems to be at the forefront of this initiative, as is Google, which is <a href="https://futurism.com/google-spending-1-billion-prepare-workers-jobs-tomorrow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investing $1 billion to train U.S. residents</a> for these so-called jobs of the future.
As Thrun told Reuters, flying cars may seem like science fiction right now, but the involvement of companies like Google and Amazon will likely lead to &#8220;enormous activity&#8221; in the field within the next couple of years.
With the proper education and preparation, human workers could carve out a space for themselves in the growing field.

This program is preparing workers for the jobs of tomorrow.

It's now possible to earn a degree in "flying cars"

Udacity is offering a flying car degree in the hopes of addressing the shortage of engineers qualified to design the vehicles of tomorrow.

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