Ray Pantling, owner of Tyres Direct, explains the bold plans…
A British period comedy film was released in 1965 called ‘Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes’.
Well, 54 years on and flying cars are in the planning stage. Goodyear has introduced its latest concept tyre at the Geneva International Motor Show, called The Goodyear Aero, which is a two-in-one tyre designed for the autonomous flying cars of the future.
It would work both as a tyre for driving on the road and a ‘propeller’ for the sky. The concept spokes would provide support to carry the weight of the vehicle and act as fan blades to provide lift when the tyre is tilted.
The tyre does not actually exist yet, but at Goodyear in Luxembourg they are designing it.
Figure 1 shows the vehicle in normal driving position. In Figure 2, one wheel at a time is angled into a propeller position, with the spokes acting as a propeller. In Figure 3, the vehicle is airborne and the wheels move according to how the vehicle wishes to turn and manoeuvre.
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