Remember The Jetsons? Their futuristic flying car might just become a reality thanks to a wild new design.
Sure private transportation has come along way, but Embraer's newest concept really ups the ante. To celebrate the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer's 50th anniversary the company's designers looked to the next 50 years in VVIP air and land transportation.
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Thinking ahead to 2070, they put together a pair of autonomous vehicles that travel by land and air without passengers ever having to get out of an all-glass central pod. Meet Embraer's Pulse Concept.
Taking inspiration from the first-ever concept car, the Harley Earl’s Buick Y-Job from 1938, Embraer's Pulse is the first-ever aerospace concept car, designed to inspire the innovations of the future (for the record, The Jetson's flying car was inspired by a 1954 Ford concept, the FX-Atmos).
"The experience aspect is that of having an environmental space that can be enjoyed on land or in the air. Seamless transportation from destination to destination, not airport to airport,"'Jay Beever, vice president of interior design for Embraer Executive Jets, told Departures.
How does it work? For air travel, the futuristic pod takes flight in a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft from any location, which was inspired "more by bird than a machine." On the ground, the pod is transferred to an unmanned self-driving car, creating a seamless transportation loop, moving occupants from air to ground without any disturbance.
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The see-through pod which looks like a luxurious lounge goes between both aircraft and car would be the result of future advances in glass technology and see-through alloy metals, allowing a pretty spectacular 360-degree view of the world around.
The bird-like Pulse concept actually started as a humanitarian project. "There could be [a] time in the near future where drone fire-fighting equipment may be required for disaster response, like what’s happened in Australia and California," says Beever.
