Dubbed a flying Humvee by Ryan Wood, CEO of Broomfield Colo.-based Frontline Aerospace, the robotic vehicle can fly 600 to 1,000 miles carrying a full cargo of 400 pounds. Code named V-STAR, the autonomous aircraft, which can execute vertical take-offs and landings, is about the size of a large SUV, weighing in at 2,400 pounds and measuring 21 feet long and up to 26 feet wide.
This is a hugely important, although entirely evolutionary, development. Just as military research led to the development of the consumer Internet, military R&D will lead to a future of automated, unmanned transportation. Think about it. A sky filled with unmanned delivery vehicles. Roads filled with super-efficient unmanned trucks delivering supplies around the world. They’ll be able to fly (and drive) closer together because computer response times are much better than human response times. We won’t have to worry about driver fatigue. Mathemeticians and programmers will be able to optimize delivery routes and methodologies using pure math, with little or no concern for external factors.
Ever get the feeling that we’re living in a sci-fi movie?
I got that feeling this morning. My friend was taking a bolt bus from Philadelphia to NYC. They have wifi on the bus as well as electricty. Amazingly enough though, we were still talking while he was sitting in traffic In the middle of the holland tunnel. He ran a bandwith test and found that he was getting 1mb down. The future is here, even if only in parts.
