Volkswagen’s Levitating or Floating Car, Hover Car - No wheels required

Review: Volkswagen’s floating car — No wheels required
digitaljournal
By Kyle Busch
May 15, 2012 in Auto


This article reports on Volkswagen’s levitating or floating car. It has no wheels and uses an electromagnetic grid in the road and it will indeed change driving from the way we know it.


Some are more so and some less, however, most people are fans of technology. And one automotive innovation that has been talked about for some time is the ‘car’ that levitates or floats off of the ground.


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Volkswagen gathers ideas from the people of China to help innovate future cars. We took one girl's idea for a hover car and made it into reality.


The People's Car Project
http://www.zaoche.cn


 



Volkswagen's Levitating Car
While we sit patiently and wait for this automotive fantasy to come true, watch a brave duo hover around the city in the first (computer animated) test drive of the Volkswagen concept.


The Volkswagen Hover Concept Car is a pod-like zero-emissions vehicle that uses electromagnetic road networks to float above the road.



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Mercedes-Benz recently showed off its F-Cell Hydrogen Roadster Concept. The F-Cell is a modern two-seat roadster with large buggy like wheels. Volkswagen is also venturing into the future too but the automaker has gone one step further and eliminated the wheels altogether. And how did the Volkswagen floating car come about?


Getting to know what Chinese drivers want is a top priority for automakers as such a huge market of future drivers equates to major vehicle sales and profits. Consequently, Volkswagen came up with the People’s Car Project to inquire of China’s citizens about what they want in their future cars.


And out of 119,000 car concept responses, who submitted the idea for the Hover Car? It was a young girl from Chengdu city who was studying animation and gaming design. Volkswagen used the girl’s idea to develop the floating car.


The two seat Hover Car levitates by way of an electromagnetic grid in the road. The car has clear round doors. Furthermore, its smart key combines aspects of a ‘regular key’ with a small LED screen that provides information on the vehicle’s fuel use as well as the driver’s driving habits.


Regarding the car, Simon Loasby, head of design at Volkswagen Group China said, “The trend is towards safe cars that can easily navigate overcrowded roads and have a personal, emotional and exciting design.”


The automaker believes that the People’s Car Project has been successful enough that it will extend the project and consider bringing it to other countries.


Volkswagen released a video of the Hover Car in action and the viewing reportedly went viral. It is said that after watching the video, one cannot help thinking how similar the car looks to the ‘cars’ seen in the 60s Jetsons cartoon shows.


Soon we might be saying: Let’s not take that old hydrogen buggy but take the Hover Car. Yes Jane (Jane was George Jetson’s wife)!