He’s known as the ‘godfather of the self-driving car’, and now Sebastian Thrun has set his sights on flying cars.
Speaking at a conference this week, Thrun referred to flying cars as ‘completely crazy’ but said that he believes the world is ready for the ‘next big thing.’
He also revealed that his firm, Kitty Hawk, will have its first flying vehicle – which is more like a motorcycle than car – ready by February 2018.
He’s known as the ‘godfather of the self-driving car’, and now it seems that Sebastian Thrun has set his sights on flying cars. Bizarrely, the Google X founder had a dog strapped to his chest while he spoke at the conference
Thrun was speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco this week, where is explained why he believes air travel will become a daily occurrence in the near future.
Bizarrely, the Google X founder had a dog strapped to his chest while he spoke at the conference.
He said: ‘The air is so free of stuff and unused compared to the ground.’
Thrun, who used to work at Google before leaving to set up his flying-vehicle firm, Kitty Hawk, said he envisions a world where he can fly the 34 mile journey from Palo Alto to San Francisco in just ten minutes.
In April, Kitty Hawk revealed a prototype of its flying vehicle – an electrical aircraft that resembles a flying jet ski
He added that AI and deep learning, as well as developments in drones, have huge potential to lead to flying cars, although the public tends to view them as more in the realm of science fiction.
He said: ‘The latest thing is going to be flying cars, it’s completely crazy, and no one person in the world believes in it.’
In April, Kitty Hawk revealed a prototype of its flying vehicle – an electrical aircraft that resembles a flying jet ski.
According to Sebastian Thrun, a working version of Kitty Hawk’s flying car will be ready by February 2018
And according to Thrun, a working version of the product will be ready by February 2018.
According to the Kitty Hawk site, the machine is ‘safe, tested and legal to operate in the US’, as long as it is flown in ‘uncongested areas.’
Thrun said: ‘Self driving cars is very hot right now but a few years ago nobody cared about them.
‘Three years from now flying cars will be very hot and they might just disrupt the self-driving car.’
Sebastian Thrun believes that the only things stopping the production of flying cars sooner are legal and regulatory roadblocks
Thrun believes that the only things stopping the production of flying cars sooner are legal and regulatory roadblocks.
Government agencies have only just started to create self-driving regulations.
And Thrun added that it’s likely that regulating air space will be even more challenging.
According to the Kitty Hawk site, the machine is ‘safe, tested and legal to operate in the US’, as long as it is flown in ‘uncongested areas’
Also speaking at the conference was GGV’s Jenny Lee, a prolific investor in China.
Ms Lee said: ‘I do want to highlight that there’s going to be huge disruption within the transportation ecosystem in China.
‘Cars going from diesel to electric. China has about 200 million install base of car ownership.
Steve Jurvetson, one of the original investors in SpaceX, is also optimistic about flying cars, adding: ‘They’re kind of like autonomous cars, you get a peek of the future. You’re like, this is the future, but you have to really experience it to believe it. It feels like an inevitability’
‘In 2016, only one million cars are electric. The Chinese government hopes to install five million parking lots that are electric… Even the Chinese OEMs are buying into flying taxis.’
And Steve Jurvetson, one of the original investors in SpaceX, is also optimistic about flying cars, adding: ‘They’re kind of like autonomous cars, you get a peek of the future.
‘You’re like, this is the future, but you have to really experience it to believe it. It feels like an inevitability.
‘The problem I have in making any statement of when is the regulatory environment is completely unclear… The FAA has been cautious throughout.’