We Hear: Italdesign, Airbus Bringing Traffic-Beating Car Concept to Geneva

Italdesign and Airbus are developing a concept car that can have the upper passenger compartment air-lifted by a drone to avoid traffic, according to Automotive News. The new concept will be shown at the 2017 Geneva auto show.

Similar to the Italdesign Capsula concept from the 1982 Turin auto show, the new concept will feature a two-piece design consisting of an upper passenger capsule sitting on an autonomous driving base. In order to avoid traffic, a 16.5-foot by 16.5-foot drone would lift the passenger compartment off the base and fly the occupants the rest of the way to their destinations. No details were given whether the autonomous base would show up on its own or not.

The 1982 Italdesign Capsula concept featured an Alfa Romeo chassis with interchangeable passenger compartments including a passenger car, commercial van, tow truck, minibus, and more.

Italdesign recently announced that it would build a small run of V-10 powered supercars under its new “Italdesign Automobili Speciali” division. Airbus is currently working on the Vahana “a self-piloted flying vehicle platform for individual passenger and cargo transport,” which features helicopter-style blades.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)

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