Title: A real update on the Jetson’s Flying Car
Plus FTW - Curate
QuickByte: Will my son get to live the Jetson dream of a flying car
Bottomline: Likely yes though he will need to clear some of his lawn to create a take off and landing area, and expand his current garage.
Thinking about Rosie the Robot got me thinking about the flying cars that the Jetson family had. Our current naming convention lacks the pizazz of flying car being called eVTOLs (electric vehicle take-off and landing), but this century is obsessed with acronyms so that is probably the best we are going to get. Turns out there has been a lot going on so that eVTOLs are really close to being in flight near you, with some versions actually already approved for the market in the US.
As you can see from the photo below of a licensed to fly model, it doesn’t have the same family roominess of the Jetsons. It’s harsh angles remind me of the fierce looking Tesla trucks. Here’s why: the manufacturer is a company called Alef Aeronautics, who have received an investment from Elon Musk. This was before his shift to re-engineering government and being interested in things political regardless of country.
The marketing geniuses who named this model, The BlackFly, obviously haven’t spent any time at a remote lake or wilderness hiking where they are some of the most annoying insects on the planet. It currently has 5 private owners in addition to 8 sold to the military (naturally purchased to chase down the formation flying drones on the east coast). The replacement to it has already being rolled out (called the Helix so they obviously fired the original marketing agency) and will cost around $190,000, similar to the cost of the Tesla Cyberbeast.
This is a busy fledgling industry with many other offerings being brought to the market. As you might expect they are all over the place in terms of look and feel, purpose and technology. Some are being rolled out as build it yourself kits (never flying in one of these), a couple are hybrids (road and air, not engine and motor), and one is billed as easy to fly electric aircraft where you only need your car driver’s license and a little training (another hard pass). Right now air speeds are between 100 and 200 mph while distances flown average 200 to 300 miles.
Like autonomous vehicles there are lots of hurdles to jump to get to mass acceptance, including safety, regulation, insurance and infrastructure (start watching for vertiports to be built near you). They are likely 10 years away from widespread commercial availability but you could see the odd one flying about soon. For LOTS more information if you are interested here is a flyboy Youtube of the World's Most Advanced Flying Cars.
FTW - Curate
People curating the most mundane things is out of control and tragically overused. Menus, cheese boards, shopping lists, store inventory, Powerpoint presentations and reference articles aren’t really curated. They are selected or arranged. It is the height of pretentiousness to use curate, as if it adds authenticity (another ugh) and thoughtfulness.
Other words much better describe the activity that has happened: organized, compiled, categorized, et al. It has become almost sacred to use this word, which is apt as it is original meaning referred to the person responsible for caring for church property. Much of this property was artistic, which is how curation and curators extended to musums and art galleries. I remember going to graduate school with a woman who was getting her master’s degree in art history so that she could start at the bottom rung in Ottawa at the National Gallery, with an eventual goal of becoming a curator. How is that effort and knowledge congruent with curating a to do list?
Thanks for the few of you who read this far. Much appreciated. Always value any feedback. Cheers, David