Opinion

September 9, 2019

How not to launch a new technology in the age of populism

Flying cars will have to avoid being seen as elitist if they want to get the public to accept this new form of transport.


Maija Palmer

4 min read

It is sunset and the flying car takes off from the top of a corporate rooftop against a technicolour sky. It soars over the twinkling lights of a city before coming to land in a space-age, chrome-and-glass “vertiport”. As the thumping action-movie soundtrack builds to a crescendo, you half expect Christian Gray, or some other billionaire fantasy figure, to stride out of the aircraft.

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VoloCity taking off into the night.
VoloCity taking off into the night. © Volocopter
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Concorde protestors, 1972
Ban the boom: Anti-Concorde protestors, 1972
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SkyPorts' vertiport concept
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