At the 87th Geneva International Motor Show, aerospace company Airbus
along with Italy based design and engineering company and
brand Italdesign unveiled Pop.Up,
the world’s first modular, fully electric, zero emissions concept
vehicle system that aims to relieve traffic in crowded megacities.
The plan is to create a capsule that can switch “seamlessly” between a ground or air module so that drivers can take advantage of both ground and airspace. There are also hopes that public transportation will also be able to integrate the Pop.Up capsule.
Airbus offered antsy commuters a tantalizing look at a multi-modal ride hailing model with its latest far-fetched future concept, Pop.Up. The high-flying transportation system, brought to life through renderings and video with Italdesign, was unveiled earlier this week at the Geneva Motor Show.
The Pop.Up design is built around a small capsule about the size of a two-seat car cab. It's the one consistent feature between each mode of transport — wheels and rotors would automatically attach to the capsule along the way, and it's even designed to link up to public transport systems like subway trains and hyperloops for the most direct route to your destination. You'd never have to jockey for a seat on the train ever again.
Pop.Up has a two-seat carbon-fiber cabin, the ground module is also carbon, and both it and the air module, with its eight counter-rotating rotors, are powered by batteries. The idea is to alleviate traffic problems in megacities. Depending on what the AI system onboard thinks is best, the passenger compartment can ride along on four wheels or be plucked from the ground by the air module. Easily the coolest part of this shared mobility system is the air module's vertical takeoff and landing capability. The companies say this is their way of taking advantage of the third dimension, and here we thought we were already living in 3D.
The plan is to create a capsule that can switch “seamlessly” between a ground or air module so that drivers can take advantage of both ground and airspace. There are also hopes that public transportation will also be able to integrate the Pop.Up capsule.
Airbus offered antsy commuters a tantalizing look at a multi-modal ride hailing model with its latest far-fetched future concept, Pop.Up. The high-flying transportation system, brought to life through renderings and video with Italdesign, was unveiled earlier this week at the Geneva Motor Show.
The Pop.Up design is built around a small capsule about the size of a two-seat car cab. It's the one consistent feature between each mode of transport — wheels and rotors would automatically attach to the capsule along the way, and it's even designed to link up to public transport systems like subway trains and hyperloops for the most direct route to your destination. You'd never have to jockey for a seat on the train ever again.
Pop.Up has a two-seat carbon-fiber cabin, the ground module is also carbon, and both it and the air module, with its eight counter-rotating rotors, are powered by batteries. The idea is to alleviate traffic problems in megacities. Depending on what the AI system onboard thinks is best, the passenger compartment can ride along on four wheels or be plucked from the ground by the air module. Easily the coolest part of this shared mobility system is the air module's vertical takeoff and landing capability. The companies say this is their way of taking advantage of the third dimension, and here we thought we were already living in 3D.
Pop.Up is designed for a future filled with megacities, which Airbus envisions having a whole new level of traffic congestion issues. It's built explicitly with ride sharing in mind, which is a running theme in many of the future-facing transportation concepts we've seen lately..@ItalDesign and #Airbus unveil #PopUp, the world first ingenious modular air & ground concept vehicle at #GIMS2017 https://t.co/EWlHE7YhRF pic.twitter.com/xtFVw3ODzn— Airbus Group (@AirbusGroup) March 7, 2017
Pop.Up won't come even close to development anytime soon — but it's not Airbus' only vision of autonomous air/land transport we've heard about this year. The company's CEO, Tom Enders, said in January that Airbus is aiming to have a working prototype for a self-piloted flying car by the end of this year. That design won't be ready for a public presentation until 2020, even if all goes according to plan. If you want a trip in a flying car in the near future, you'll have to book a trip to Dubai this summer for a jaunt the city's yet-to-be-confirmed autonomous passenger drone service.VIDEO: #PopUp, the first modular, fully electric, zero emission vehicle of the future. Designed to relieve congested cities. cc @ItalDesign pic.twitter.com/SmZFH2ww0X— Airbus Group (@AirbusGroup) March 7, 2017