First driver-less cars and now a ‘flying car’ is almost on its way to market courtesy Google. Kitty Hawk, the world’s first flying machine that can be operated by humans and yet the flyer doesn’t require a pilot’s licence, is going to make its debut somewhere during the end of this year.
Kitty Hawk is not developed by Google or backed by the internet giant, however, the link to Google is very direct. Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page has been backing Kitty Hawk and this flying project is very close to Page’s heart.
Kitty Hawk has started taking the preorders for the flyer and you can book your flyer by paying $100 up front. With this fees you can join the Flyer Discovery Membership which will let you receive a priority placement on the Kitty Hawk Flyer customer wait list and receive a $2,000 discount off the retail price.
Talking about the flyer is an all electric-machine which is less of a car and more of a hybrid of a hoverboard, drone and jetski. Going by the video posted on Kitty Hawk’s official website, the machine can be navigated with a control wheel fixed on the top of the flyer. The design is more like a drone and so is the mechanism as it is powered only by rotors. It can land and take off only at a waterbody.
If you are planning to get it after some years and beat Bangalore’s infamous traffic then hang on! The Kitty Hawk Flyer cannot be flown in congested areas and it can be operated only over fresh water, so if you are in Bangalore and want to fly it, you will have push really hard for the rejuvenation of Bellandur and Varthur lakes.
The design of the flyer looks very ordinary and rough at this point in time but the company promises to be coming up with a better design for the final product and the photos and video of that design will be out before the flyer goes on sale by the end of 2017.
When we talk about flying, safety concerns are something we can never avoid. Talking about the safety aspects of the Kitty Hawk Flyer, the company’s CEO Sebastian Thrun was quoted by Washington Post as saying, “Safety is, and always will be, our first priority. I dream of a day when anyone — not just highly trained pilots — can safely operate a flying vehicle and experience the excitement that we’re aiming for with Kitty Hawk.”
