Before the Music Kicks off next Week, SXSW Interactive Brings You the Flying Car


AeroMobil2It’s no secret that SXSW has always been all about the music; a socially acceptable six-day bender that brings hundreds of thousands of audiophiles and bands from hundreds of countries to the fair city of Austin, TX for a week of sonic discovery, epic adventuring, day drinking and debauchery. However, in the last decade or so, the festival’s oft-ignored “ugly step-sister”, the Interactive Festival, has really been picking up steam. This year the most buzzed-about item on the agenda is a panel that allows attendees to get up close & personal with a company that has made the creation of a viable flying car their life’s mission.

AeroMobilThe SXSW Interactive Festival sets itself apart from bigger tech conferences like CES in Las Vegas, or the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, by taking itself just a little less seriously. By doing so, they are able to take more risks; to showcase more out-of-the-box technology. For example, while NSA leaker Edward Snowden was the highlight of last year’s conference, the 2013 conference’s main draw was the live appearance of Grumpy Cat – go figure. As always, there is much in the way of innovative technology hitting the conference this week, but perhaps the most exciting Panel in the lineup so far is on “Bringing the Flying Car Into Reality”. In a Session with the CEO and Co-Founder of AeroMobil, the company responsible for developing and testing prototypes of flying cars, attendees will learn about the unique engineering challenges that come with building a flying car and engage in a discussion about the possible future of transportation.

AeroMobil1Operating under the notion that personal transportation is the “next big thing” in the near future, AeroMobil was established in 2010 by CEO and Co-Founder Juraj Vaculik and Chief Designer and Co-Founder Stefan Klein. Since its inception, AeroMobil has successfully developed and tested various prototypes of flying cars to challenge the way that we currently think about personal travel. Their “star car” at the moment is the AeroMobil 3.0 flying car, a vehicle that uses regular gasoline, fits into any standard parking space and can be driven on the road just like a normal car. Pretty standard stuff, except that the AeroMobil 3.0 can also function as a plane using any grass strip or paved surface offering just a few hundred meters worth of room. An advanced parachute deployment system, variable angles of attack on the wings (which significantly shorten take-off requirements) and a super high-tech suspension all work together to make this high-flying dream an automotive reality. So real, in fact, that the company could be delivering the completed product to customers in as little as two to three years; the current prototype is already finalized and has been in regular flight-testing in real flight conditions since October 2014.

AeroMobil3If the flying car Panel doesn’t particularly strike your fancy, you have plenty of other gadgets, gizmos and ingenious innovations to choose from. Take a stroll to the robot petting zoo and meet some of the newest robots helping humans get stuff done, hear Google’s Astro Teller, head of the tech giant’s X division, wax poetic on self-driving cars or balloon-powered Internet, or keep it local and check out one of the many labs being offered by Austin’s own tech giant Dell, which will address important federal issues currently facing the Central Texas technology community.

Topics: Technology News CES - Consumer Electronics Show Dell Gadgets & Peripherals Inventions & Innovations

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