Porsche starts work on flying passenger drones

While it's not clear that Porsche is ready to confirm the details, it's clearly open to the idea. Company sales lead Detlev von Platen noted that it takes him "at least half an hour" just to drive from Porsche's plant in Zuffenhausen to the airport in Stuttgart, but just "three and a half minutes" with an aircraft.

It may seem odd for Porsche to not only venture into flying vehicles, but hands-off vehicles. Isn't that anathema to enthusiasts used to taking the wheel? However, it's likely feeling pressure to do something in the passenger drone space. Its rival Daimler is backing Volocopter's drone, while Volvo parent Geely recently bought Terrafugia. Even Porsche owner Volkswagen has dipped its toes into the waters: its Italdesign wing partnered with Airbus on the Pop.Up flying car concept. If Porsche doesn't explore passenger drones, there's a possibility that it could miss out as the transportation world shifts away from human-piloted cars and toward autonomous vehicles of all kinds.

from Joystiq http://ift.tt/2tc19MR
via IFTTT