Friday, January 08, 2010
What if American soldiers had flying cars with which to travel around countries like Afghanistan, so as to avoid running over roadside bombs planted by the enemy? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) thinks this idea might just be possible and is looking for design recommendations from companies. DARPA is hosting a one-day workshop on January 14 to explain what exactly it wants for a flying automobile, or what defense officials are calling the Transformer or TX.
The TX prototype doesn’t have to fly all the time. It can travel on land, but must have the capability of sustained flight to allow soldiers to “avoid water, difficult terrain, and road obstructions as well as IED and ambush threats,” reads the workshop announcement. The vehicle must also be able to complete a mission on a single tank of fuel, and accommodate one to four passengers.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Proposer's Day Workshop Announcement for Transformer (TX) (FedBizOpps.gov)
DARPA Gathering Minds for Flying Car Production (by Aaron Saenz, Singularity Hub)
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