The development of autonomous vehicles has been a huge focus of the automotive industry in recent years. Some companies, however, have been working hard on leapfrogging to the next automotive revolution: flying cars.
But don’t expect Ford to be taking to the skies anytime soon. While speaking Monday at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, executive chairman Bill Ford discussed whether the American automaker is working on flying vehicles, according to Business Insider.
“We’re not, but it’s not so crazy,” Ford said, via Business Insider. “Although I would say they had better be autonomous. Most people can’t drive two dimensions, let alone three.
“There are entrepreneurs who are working on flying vehicles. I haven’t been in one, but seen a test of one. And they are technically going to be very possible.”
While Ford’s lack of faith in peoples’ driving abilities might be tad offensive, he definitely has a point. Plus, there are reasons beside humans’ inabilities to fly them, why flying Ford Mustangs currently don’t seem very realistic.
“But go back to automation,” Ford said. “Think about today; planes, which you to take off and land at the airport, which eliminates 99 percent of their usefulness. You have to be a licensed pilot. Well, how many of those are there?”
Ford, however, did offer an optimistic outlook on the feasibility of a society populated with flying cars.
“But in time, regulations change and these things start to become more interesting,” Ford said. “So I wouldn’t say never for us, but not in the short term for us.”
Although Ford currently is focussed on life on land, other companies, such as Airbus and PAL-V aren’t showing nearly as much patience.
Thumbnail photo via Flickr/Steve Jurvetson
