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Nov 715 min read

Look Up in the Sky: Flying Cars, Planes, and Change

We explore the significant changes coming to aviation, from Dubai's autism-friendly airport to the emergence of urban air taxis and flying car racing. While these innovations promise exciting possibilities—like one-hour flights from Delhi to London on hypersonic jets—they also raise important questions about our future skies. How will we manage multiple layers of air traffic? How do we ensure these technological advances enhance rather than diminish the experience of travel and daily life? Join us as we discuss these developments and consider both the opportunities and practical challenges of aviation's next chapter.





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Episode Transcript:

Raakhee: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.


[0:40]


Raakhee: Hello and welcome to Signal Shift. I'm Raakhee Natha, and on this very spooky day of Halloween, I'm joined by Lana and Sue. We're also celebrating Diwali today, so it's a big day of celebrations, and I hope everybody's just having fun today. And today's topic should be fun as well.


It's the aviation industry, or literally anything to do with the world of flying. And flying these days can also mean a lot of different things, because all kinds of things are flying these days. So I'm really looking forward to hearing what Sue and Lana have to share. 


But I think I was inspired by this topic by a lot of things we’re seeing in the aviation industry, in the last few months, that are concerning, and really show the need for change, that hopefully is coming soon.


But we've seen a lot more issues with things like turbulence, parts flying off of planes, just a question around how, you know, what shape are these airplanes in, how much visibility and transparency do we have around the maintenance, and what's happening there, right? Things around regulation. And we saw a few things during COVID as well, with the amount of kind of issues we were having with just people's behavior on planes, right, leading to questions around that. And there's been a whole lot of other things. I mean, I learned about GPS spoofing that happens on planes, which, yeah, is a whole scary thing of hackers basically, you know, messing with navigation on airplane systems. And it happens far more commonly than we think. 


So a lot of things like this have come to light. In the last couple, I would say years, and certainly last couple of months as well, a lot more. And it begs the question of, yeah, change is needed in this industry. So what's coming? What's going to be next in the world of flying? And that's what we are going to explore today.


[2:42]


Lana: This is Lana. I was thinking about the experience of flying. And so this is a signal from Dubai. That's actually where Emirates Airlines and the Dubai International Airport are reimagining air travel for neurodivergent passengers. 


And so this isn't like a single innovation. It's basically how they've partnered to redesign the entire experience of air travel and make it more accessible for people with different neurological needs. It's really everything from when the flight, before even booking the flight all the way through the experience.


And so just a couple of things about what they've done. So one of the key insights for neurodivergence is reducing unknowns can make a huge difference in someone's comfort and confidence. 


And so, for example, with Emirates, they have a travel rehearsal program. For example, autistic children and their families, they can practice the entire journey through the airport and onto the aircraft before the actual travel date. And they use real boarding passes. They go through the security screening. They familiarize themselves with the entire airport environment, but without the pressure of the actual travel day. 


And I saw one clip where actually with a few families, they actually all boarded the plane and the plane took off and flew around like in the air and landed. So they even got to experience like takeoff and landing as well.


But it like that's only kind of like one piece of it. It goes all the way from like you get free parking for two hours when you get to the airport to... I didn't know about this, but there's a global program called the Hidden Sunflower Lanyard. And it's a lanyard you wear around your neck and it's got sunflowers on it. And this was something that was actually pioneered at London’s Gatwick Airport. But it's the globally recognized symbol for hidden disabilities. So if you're wearing this lanyard, then the airport staff know that you may have some additional needs.


They have 29,000 cabin crew and ground staff have completed autism training. And so it's just kind of... They have a dedicated autism friendly route through the airport. I mean, there's priority boarding. I mean, I think it's really... This shows kind of the... I think they're really trying to demonstrate that they see these passengers, right? Like they see the needs of these flyers and they're trying to accommodate them. You can also preload all your entertainment, right? So they're doing everything they can to think about the experience.


Dubai is the first airport to earn the designation of a certified autism center in the world. And so the first one in the US, which also just got certified was the Toledo Express Airport in Toledo, Ohio. 

So this is something that is emerging after, I think, many years of effort from disability advocates. And so I think that's really encouraging to see that, as our understanding grows and as more airports develop their own programs, really setting new standards for inclusive travel design that I think will not only benefit folks with different needs, but I think would benefit everyone to have this level of care and empathy for travelers and for their experience. So I thought that was very positive and a hopeful sign, hopefully, of things to come.


Raakhee: That is an amazing find and share. Wow, it really begs the question of, we should have been here sooner, right? I mean, that's amazing. That's such great news -- and yay to Toledo, Ohio. That's amazing, right? That's, I think, the way to lead change. And such a, yeah, that's a great, great signal. 


I recently saw something about labs. I think it's in the UK recognizing the same thing and saying so many scientists are neurodiverse. We need to design our labs to actually work with their brains and their minds as well in a way that's comfortable for them. So I love this. And I love that design in all kinds of spaces is taking note of that and catering for that. So really great share. I think beautiful change coming to that industry. And Sue, yeah, any thoughts and what did you have on your end?


Sue: Yeah, I’m just filled with so much empathy around this experience and hopeful that this will start changing and give people more customized experiences that will fit their needs. Yeah, so I'm going to carry one thread over to my signal, which is quite different, but I'd say the common thread is in design.


[8:20]


Sue: And so I found an update on the website designboom about eVTOLs, which are Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing, otherwise known as flying cars, right? I don't know about you, but the idea of potentially having like Amazon flying delivery cars everywhere is not something I want to see anytime in the future. But similar to I think maybe EVs, like you need something sleek, really cool, some kind of vision to see, oh, this may be its best state of what it could look like.


And so what designboom showed is a company called Airspeeder, which is based out in London, claims to be the first flying car racing series. And it partnered with a global architecture firm that's known to have designed many different sports arenas and built this really cool concept of a sky deck with vertiports that will allow for flying cars to race against each other. 


It will actually have retractable areas for pit stops for the cars before they fly off again. And the really cool thing is the sky deck then allows spectators to like see the entire race course and allow for all the concessions, like all of that stuff as well.


And so the design looked like it came out of, I mean, the article was saying it looked like it came out of Dune, like a series from science fiction. And even the term Airspeeder harkens back to Star Wars, you should see the designs. It's related to an Australian company that's designing the racing cars as well. And they look very, very sleek and very cool. 


So they actually launched their first racing series. I think it was just like two or three cars in the Australian desert. It wasn't manned, but they had remote pilots operating these cars. And so their next hope is that they can actually launch a manned flying car series.


And so I just like, I was like, is this real? Is this not real? But, you know, according to the concept video, Intel has partnered with them to power the cars. They've secured a deal with Fox Sports Australia to show the actual race. And so like, you know, they have a very famous like F1 driver as the global ambassador. Like all of these things were one thing after another is adding up. I'm like, oh, this seems legit.


So we'll see where they go. It's still very nascent. You know, they announced that they were going to do the first manned series in 2024. I haven't seen any news other than the concept of the vertiports landing. 


It's got me excited because you can sort of see the vision of like a very contained race. And whenever I'm at like an outdoor sporting event and I see the flyover, I get so excited. So I think, oh, this could be really exciting.


And so I think it's not just the idea of the race, but like everything that goes into it. So the way that they're thinking about training the pilots or recruiting the pilots is also totally different. You know, you might expect they might recruit former pilots or F1 drivers or some kind of blend of that. But they're also recruiting gamers because they've created some kind of virtual reality course where people can operate the machinery, or the controls, that they think, if you get good enough at this in the game, what's to say you can't actually do this in real life? And so they're looking for multiple recruitment spots, which I thought was really interesting.


But you know, I think Raakhee, going back to what you were saying, this begs a lot of questions like around regulations, around safety. You know, one of the racing series, their dream is to be able to race through a city like you have F1 series. I mean, how are you going to create safety precaution around the buildings, around the ground, like pedestrians, everyone? 


But that was kind of the point they were making, was in order for eVTOLs to actually become a thing. All of this needs to be figured out by cities, by governments. And so, you know, what nice way like can you envision this by creating a race that will force some of these conversations of what the intended path is, who needs to be in on it, what decisions need to be made. So we'll see if it gets off the ground, but you know, maybe there will be a race soon to come in your city in the future.


Raakhee: I love it. That sounds exciting, scary, unreal, all those things. Very, very cool. Yeah, I think we need to watch the space for this one. It's kind of funny in my head. I'm like, I was saying to my husband last night, I was like, oh, we've got to go for an F1 race. And now I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, we need to go for that race. That's the race we should be planning to go watch.


[13:23]


Raakhee: Yeah, as radical as it sounds, it's like, that's where we are, we're here. And I think that's exactly why I was so curious about talking about this today, because I think this is one industry that's going to see some massive change in the next decade, right? 


So Sue we were definitely thinking on the same page. It was pretty much going to be about an eVTOL and the whole concept of the eVTOL and a particular company called Archer.

Yeah, you guys heard about them exactly. Yeah, they are going to do the takeoffs and landings from airports, like I think from Kennedy to Newark. And it would change the time to about 10 minutes. And the amazing thing again about these machines, kind of, Sue, like you were describing, is just how they look. One of their machines, the four-seater, literally looks like a large mosquito. Yeah, it will transport people. It's like a drone, but it's just a massive drone that can transport people. And so it's really different to helicopter in that sense, and faster and easier. And they can get more of these flying around, getting us transported all over.


And I know part of their plans is also to develop really an eVTOL sort of taxi network in the San Francisco Bay Area. And so they would connect places like Napa and Oakland and San Francisco City, et cetera. And so it would be game changing for traffic in places like certain areas like that, where you could have these taxi networks come together. Yeah, so I was going to go that way. 


[14:55]


Raakhee: But what I'll do is I'll pop in an extra quick other different signal just to keep us on our toes with all the changes coming in aviation. So the other one is basically, it's a hypersonic aircraft. It's called the Venus Stargazer. It's only going to arrive in the 2030s, but it would be the world's first hypersonic commercial jet. And it would be able to reach speeds of Mach 9. So that's pretty radical. What that means in a very practical sense is that it would be able to get between somewhere like Delhi and London in one hour. And this is coming to us in the 2030s. That's six years away. That's really not that far.


I think, yeah, other amazing things the way it works is we'll actually be flying at about 110,000 feet in comparison to the current 38,000 feet that normal commercial planes fly. So we'll be flying higher, we'll be flying faster. But what's really amazing is these jets will be built to half the emissions. They'll also have reusable mechanics. So things like the turnaround time on the tarmac, etc. That'll be reduced as well to like 30 minutes. So all of this is like everything we know is being taken into consideration to build planes that'll give us a much, much faster experience. So yeah, it's called the Venus Stargazer. It's a Houston-based company that's building this and looks optimistic. So that's my share for today.


What's coming up for both of you? What are you thinking about all these crazy signals about aviation? 


[16:37]


Lana: I mean, okay, I have two thoughts. One with the Archer, like the airport taxi, like being able to take essentially a flying taxi to the airport. I mean, I don't know, last time you've been to JFK or Newark, LaGuardia, or really any airport where you're trying to just get there, pick up or drop off. It's such a hot mess. And so I'm just imagining this whole other layer to it where now you have flying taxis also trying to get into the airport. I am having a hard time imagining this, like just adding more chaos to the fray. So, but of course, I hope that it could be figured out.

I also think the potential for something like that. I'm curious about like a place like LA, right? Like, what would that look like if you could fly between destinations versus sitting in traffic? So that's an interesting thought. 


But I guess the other thing is I'm thinking about the different altitudes as you were mentioning, Raakhee, like between the Stargazer or commercial aircraft, potentially the flying taxis, the drones, like, and the amount of coordination that might be needed between all of these parties that are at different levels of airspace. Maybe we can count ourselves lucky right now that we can look up into the sky and we just see clouds and birds. We're not seeing multiple layers of flying objects. But yeah, so those were some of the things that I was running through my mind as I was thinking about all these innovations.


Sue: Yeah, taking a page out of science fiction, I was thinking, oh, maybe the designers are all going to know people all over are going to hate the idea of seeing all these flying objects. So they might get one of those, what's it called, like the refractive shell where it's as if it's just the sky. Like, you can't see it. So it's only visible on radar. Like, who knows? 


Raakhee: Yeah, that's a wild idea. But I can see that. I can see that happening. I think, yeah, definitely. I mean, it's a logical question, right? Like, talk about traffic. I mean, this is next level air traffic. Like, how do we possibly manage all of this, right? And it's not just what's happening there. Everything has to take off and land. So where's that space? Where's that going to be? And we spoke about replacing parking lots, but are we going to have a whole lot of vertical takeoff and landing spots coming instead, right? That's not exactly what I think any of us envisioned.


So yeah, I don't know how all of this is going to work. I'm excited by the speed and convenience, like you said, in LA could be a game changer, and even just having quicker flights to places. I know to get back to South Africa, gosh, it's like a 20-something hour total flight, right? And then you add in your transit time, that you're waiting in airports. And it's a full day of actual travel. I mean, I'd love to go back, my family is there, I want to see them more often. So if there was like a one-hour flight. Like, yes, that would be happening every year.


Yeah, I don't know how to, like, the convenience is really exciting. But how are we going to possibly manage this amount of air traffic? I think that's kind of insane. 


But then maybe there's something clever, like I think about the design for neurodiverse individuals. Maybe there's something really smart that we can come up with in the design of the way we build flying in the air. I don't know, any creative ideas, or any thoughts you have on how we could balance all of this, the good end, the concerns around so much in the air.


[20:36]


Sue: If we can focus more on the human experience and the human-centered design that I'm hearing this thread come through, I think that's what gives me hope. Because, I mean, you started the episode with all the issues that are already plaguing the aviation industry. I mean, we already have issues with air traffic control. How are we going to manage this on top of that, you know? So are universities or research centers thinking about training the next generation of traffic controllers with this in mind. I gotta imagine somewhere they're starting to do this. I'd be really curious what that looks like, how they're recruiting, what the curriculum looks like.


And then the two other things that got me worried is like, how is this increase of climate change and turbulence going to affect, especially at lower altitudes, all these flying cars in cities, you know, and a little worried about that. 


And then lastly, you said Mach 9. It immediately made me think of the latest Top Gun movie where there's a scene where he's trying to go Mach 9 and just, you know, these insane pilots that are super healthy are having issues going Mach 9. Like, what kind of health do we need to be in to qualify for these flights? So, you know, maybe like we need bio-indicators to like be approved for some of these flights, too. So no big hopeful answers there. Just saying like, yeah, we need more human design-centered folks in the mix to design our future of aviation. 


Raakhee: I hope that is forefront and center. I hope there's actually a team of a task team that is, you know, make this more human. Like it's great that we're focusing on the technology side of this. But what about humans?


And then Lana, I think the visual that you painted of like looking up at the sky and just seeing all these flying things and not being able to enjoy a blue sky or the stars. Oh my gosh, at night, right? Like just like taking the, I don't know. Yeah, that's a very scary visual.


Yeah, I think this is, this is radical. I think the whole point of today was to just stretch our imaginations. I have no idea how we're going to get onto this Mach 9 airplane and fly, you’re right, Sue. I don't think any of us feel fit enough. But I do think the change is coming. I think there's going to be some good and there's some concerns around how this will affect our very daily lives and just the joy of seeing the sky. So lots to ponder upon here.


So yeah, I think, yeah, today was just about stretching your imagination, knowing that a lot of change is going to come to this industry. We will like, visiting the other side, I'm pretty sure, in the future as well. But EVTOLS should be around pretty soon, like next year. So watch out for those. That's going to be exciting space to see how that takes off. And maybe there'll be some lessons that we start learning from as early as next year. 


So thank you for joining us, it ended up being a spooky episode about flying cars. So if you're a little bit scared, that's on point. But I hope, yeah, I hope you have a great rest of your week. And we will see you again next week. Thank you and bye for now.


[23:52]

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