French industrial and automotive designer Jonathan Mahieddine has created quite a stir on numerous popular tech-oriented websites with his Honda Fuzo, a futuristic design for a flying car.
The young, creative designer envisions the Fuzo as a lightweight and sturdy vehicle — thanks to extensive use of Kevlar, carbon fiber and carbon nanotubes — that would be capable of traveling through the air at a top speed of 350 mph, thanks to four powerful turbine engines. It would also be able to take off and land vertically, like Britain's famous Harrier jump jet and the U.S. military's own V-22 Osprey. What's more, upon landing, the Fuzo would extend its retractable wheels and tool around town like a normal automobile.
Other elements Mahieddine envisions for the Fuzo are a GPS system that not only guides the car to its predetermined destination but also communicates with other GPS-enabled vehicles for collision avoidance. Additionally, airbags would be placed both inside and outside of the vehicle to both minimize injury to its occupants and cushion the blow to pedestrians or non-GPS-equipped vehicles.
Is this flying car a glimpse at what our future automobiles will be like? Mahieddine tells us that the Fuzo was a design he submitted to Honda last year when he applied for a position with the Japanese automobile manufacturer. Honda — or another car manufacturer — would be wise to hire this visionary; perhaps his bold thinking is just what the automotive industry needs to move toward a brighter future.
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