During the 2017 Geneva International Motor Show, Airbus and design and engineering company Italdesign unveiled an autonomous flying car concept called Pop.Up. Airbus calls it the first modular, fully electric, zero emission concept vehicle system designed to relieve traffic congestion in crowded megacities.
Airbus says the Pop.Up vehicle “combines the flexibility of a small two-seater ground vehicle with the freedom and speed of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air vehicle, thus bridging the automotive and aerospace domains.”
The Pop.Up has three main features. First, it incorporates an Artificial Intelligence platform that, based on its user knowledge, manages the travel complexity and offers alternative usage scenarios.
Second, the vehicle is shaped as a passenger capsule and is designed to be coupled with two different and independent electric propelled modules (a ground module and the air module). Airbus has suggested that other public means of transportation, including a future Hyperloop, could one day be compatible with the Pop.Up.
