To be perfectly, we are kind of disappointed with the progress of flying cars. It seems like flying cars that so many companies claimed to be making are nothing more than an aircraft. Our concept of flying stemmed from Matt Trakker’s Thunderhawk. OK. Maybe not the gullwing doors that make it fly, but something along that line. However, if Goodyear’s vision of flying car were to become true, then perhaps, it does indeed fall inline with our ideal of a flying car.
At the recent, happening from March 7-17, Goodyear unveiled what could be the boldest flying car concept yet and befitting the company as a tire manufacturer, it did so with a really, really very high-tech tire called Goodyear Aero Two-in-One Tire. This so-called Two-in-One tire proposed that the tires of the flying car can be driven on the road like regular tires and also as a propulsion as a flying vehicle. Wildly breathtaking proposition indeed.
In place of the usual spokes, Aero has impeller that serves as a propeller of sort to make the lift possible and it has really narrow tire for road use. While it is refer to as tire, Aero is of a non-pneumatic design which means it has no pressurized air like regular tires. Goodyear envisioned a vehicle that has a titling mechanism much like a rotor-driven VTOL, allowing the car to transition from road-going vehicle to an aircraft. The spokes, or impeller to be precise, are designed to be flexible to absorb the impact of undulating surface while still be able to rotate at speeds to achieve lift.
We don’t care if this sound all too sci-fi-ish to be able to become a reality. We just dig the concept so much. According to the tire maker, magnetic force will be used to achieve initiate lift from the ground and also according to the concept video, two wheels diagonally opposite of each other will transition to the horizontal plane to make the the next phase of lift before joining by the other pair as the craft stabilizes. Goodyear even go to as far as imagine this autonomous flying car will be able to dock directly onto a person’s home, much like in Minority Report.
Furthermore, the tire/propulsion hybrid also boasts fiber optic sensors that will monitor the tire wear, conditions of the road, and even leveraging on artificial intelligence to prevent tire-related issues before they happen. If you think that sounds familiar, well, similar proposition was introduced with another bold concept 360 degrees tires back in 2017.
Now, we all know neither the 360 tires nor this rather ambitious Aero tires will materialize, at least in near future, but we still relish the idea. Skip ahead for the wild video.
Images: Goodyear.
Source: dezeen.
