It’s 2019 (in case you hadn’t noticed), which means we’ve reached the year in which the original Blade Runner was set.
And while the flying cars of that film are not yet soaring over our streets, one sign we are edging closer is the design released by Uber and Bell Helicopter at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
The firms debuted a scale model of a hybrid-electric aircraft called Nexus and said they plan to be testing flying cars by 2020, with a commercial service available by 2023.
Uber Air has partnered with various aircraft manufacturers to develop the technology.
That’s alongside many other companies, such as Electrafly and Airbus, trying to get their own projects off the ground.
Bell CEO Mitch Snyder said: “As space at the ground level becomes limited, we must solve transportation challenges in the vertical dimension – and that’s where Bell’s on-demand mobility vision takes hold.”
Here is another Bell Helicopter design:
Check out the product in more detail on the Bell website here.
