Researchers have been exploring the potential for maglev cars for more than a decade, with Volkswagen designing a hover car concept in 2012.īut potential safety issues still need to be worked out. The technology has been proposed for hyperloop projects from Elon Musk's The Boring Company and Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop One. VW says it has so far received 119,000 different ideas through the People’s Car Project – appropriately named as Volkswagen translates, in German, into “people’s car.” The maker decided to build prototypes of the three most intriguing ideas it received.Theoretically, maglev technology allows for high-speed travel without using as much energy as traditional engine power due to a lack of friction. “We are no longer just building cars for, but also with customers and at the same time initiating a national dialog which gives us a deep insight into the design preferences, needs and requirements of Chinese customers,” said VW’s marketing chief Luca de Meo during the recent unveiling of the hovercraft. The Volkswagen Hover Car itself produces no emissions – though, as with any other electric vehicle in China the system draws energy from the country’s heavily polluting coal-fired electric infrastructure. Magnetic levitation is also viable but establishing an infrastructure for such technology isn’t considered likely in the near-term, if ever. A number of manufacturers are now working on self-driving technologies and some experts believe such vehicles could be available in showrooms before decade’s end.
Volkswagen concept hover car license#
to create a license plate specifically for autonomous vehicles, Google acquiring the first plate. Nevada recently became the first step in the U.S. That part of the concept appears to be far closer to reality. Meanwhile, the system can be programmed to operate autonomously, allowing a motorist to simply plug in a destination, set back and enjoy the ride. (Terrafugia ready to launch sales of its flying car. The hovercraft can move forward or back, left or right and even spin on the proverbial dime. The hovercraft concept uses special sensors to remain properly positioned over that grid and to avoid other vehicles. But it requires a magnetic grid to be placed over tracks or roadway. The advantage is that the technology reduces friction and can be highly energy efficient. There are plans under discussion to create a network of similar lines across the country. China already has a magnetic levitation train running between downtown Shanghai and the city’s main airport. The underlying concept is, in fact, anything but science fiction. That’s a bit different from a conventional hovercraft which rides on a cushion of air. The disc-shaped hovercraft can seat two people and uses magnetic levitation to ride several inches over the road surface. The prototype emerges from the “People’s Car Project,” a crowd-sourcing program VW has set up in China to encourage owners and fans to submit ideas about what sort of cars they’d like to drive in the future. It looks like a flying glass donut and would seem more appropriate in a remake of the Jetsons but Volkswagen’s hovercraft concept is a bit more than just sci-fi. VW's Hover Car uses magnetic levitation to float inches above a road surface.
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