Moller Industries, the brainchild of inventor Dr. Paul Moller, announced recently that production would begin on the company's M200G volantor, a UFO-esque hovercraft that apparently can "glide over terrain at 50 MPH." Moller, long known for his work in both hovercrafts and flying vehicles (see the dubious
Skycar), has been working on alternative forms of transportation for 40 years. The futuristic looking craft is driven by the company's Rotapower engines, and can allegedly operate up to 10 feet in altitude. Of course, while Moller Industries offers lots of exciting talk about the future of transportation (as well as t-shirts, models, and investment options) to its customers, the company has never brought a vehicle to market. Clearly, the announcement of a "Jetsons-like" craft may fuel enthusiast's hope (and pull in some escrow cash), but the actual production and sale of the $90,000+ vehicle has yet to be seen. Check the video after the break to see Dr. Moller's invention at work.
[Via
Wired]
posted Jul 21st 2007 4:00PM
Hovering up and down is all very well, but where's the rapid horizontal movement which would make it a more practical alternative to a car? + it looks like it's struggling to stay level (although judging by the clothes and music this is no recent piece of footage)
It's not rapidly moving horizontally because it's attached by a safety line to that crane you occasionally see in the footage. Moving too far away from the crane would cause too much slack to be released from the line for it to be effective as a restraining device.
Think about it...
Where's the market for this? Who wants to pay 90 grand for something that only goes 10 feet high?
I think this model first flew in the 70's and they're just bringing it to market NOW? So is the four-passenger M400 going to take 35 years to get into production too?
People pay a lot more than $90k for cars that set an inch off the ground.
No, just another $40 million in "development costs"
What's that music in the video? I had that on CD way back in the day.
Celestial Soda Pop
Can you imagine what kind of injuries may occur if this landed on someone, and that someone was under one of the turbines???
...One blended head, coming right up!
Cranium smoke. Don't breathe this!
LOL!
I once accidentally inhaled some cranium smoke, and I briefly hallucinated flying cars.
Is it street legal ? :D
Streets? Where we're going, we don't need streets!
Ray Lynch FTW!
Why are we watching a video that is so obviously from the 70's?
Look how far ahead of it's time this idea was!
We had to wait for the technology to catch up to the concept!
Great stuff! I wish 'em all the best.
(Get bent, Luddites)
Anyone else notice it's connected to the crane? I'm only assuming it's there for safety reasons, but still looks fishy.
Um, did you notice that the cable was SLACK?!?!?!?
Um, did you notice at 01:27 it WASN'T slack? Did you also notice everyone was wearing bellbottoms and earplugs?
At about 3.18 or so you see a rope attached to the thing.. o_O
that's... because... it's ... a.. SAFELY HARNESS!!!
Seriously, you didn't notice the big ass crane in the background?
Plus, I've seen this video a million times... well a million and one, now.
Take a closer look at all the slack in the cable. Also note it is attached to the crane. Clearly it is dangling. Second, their are plenty of witnesses on hand to verify that the crane cable had nothing to do with it's elevation.
I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:33AM
Also take a look at this photograph, you can see another one of Dr. Moeller's cars with a cable attached and it too is slacked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Moller_M400_hover_test.jpg
For Gods sake, post some current video. This is insane. If you want to build buzz about an alternative form of transportation that no one will use and that will ultimately fall into obscurity, just copy this site:
http://www.segway.com
Segways are hardly non-existent.... even here in the Boston Area we still see them on the sidewalks / bikeways in the non-winter months.
Been seeing security guards in malls riding them. A couple in the Denver area, plus some at the Planet Hollywood (formerly Aladdin) hotel in Vegas.
Hey don't get me wrong, I LOVE Segways. But I also remember how Dean Kamen promised they would change the world... or "transportation as we know it".
But it's several years later, and Segways are still obscure. I mean, you see one now and again, and when you do its like "hey look, a Segway!". The way they positioned the device was that they'd be as ubiquitous as bicycles. Not the case. I can't recall the last time I said "hey look, a Schwinn!"
And face it, if Segway is having trouble penetrating a staid transportation market at $5k, imagine the negligible impact a $90k vehicle would have?! Maybe a few rich celebs, drug lords, and tech millionaires might by one, but that's about it.
And further, I live in Los Angeles... people here drive like they're having seisures behind the wheel. Can you imagine those same people above your head in flying lawnmowers?
I don't want to be the first person decapitated by a soccer mom who was trying to put on make-up while hovering. I say this company should cut their losses and maybe focus on something to help further the use of electric or hybrid vehicles. Flying cars are so, 1950.
honestly, if a recent video were made, they'd probably still be wearing bell-bottoms
guess there really is one born every minute
Looks like a good lease as a movie prop, if nothing else. Does it come with a 'whizzing' sound effect?
Are the new models Orbo powered?
This will piss off a lot of ladies that just got their hair did.
I bet Henry Ford heard the same thing :|
It doesn't really seem that cool to just grill someone who's spent the better part of their life trying to push technology forward and revolutionize... and probably spent a lot of money doing so.
But whatever, flame away net_starz!
Check the wikipedia talk page for Moller and look at the links they have to archived versions of Moller's pages. You get to see a disturbing little trend where every year, the deadline for when they expect results gets pushed forward. Yes, many companies experience delays, but then again, many companies also experience results.
To clarify the previous comment, 'push forward' means 'push forward in time', as in move from 2003 to 2008.
Great PR stunt. Why even publicize these?
"The futuristic looking craft is driven by the company's Rotapower engines"
Presumably the same engine that's been blowing smoke out their collective ass and into investors' faces for 40 years now.
actually the skycar was an incredible machine, and safer than a plane, but it required a pilots license to operate. it also kicked the faa in the ass and made them begin the skyway program which is now being implemented for some small aircraft pending the bugs being worked out. the tether is there more for insurance reasons than anything. once second generation prototypes are completed, freeflight tests will begin. moller.com used to have the hover tests for the skycar up, which were very impressive. i'm sure they can be found someplace. homeland defense and the army were also supposed to have several of the skycars on order for testing as medivac units.
i do agree, however that this particular craft is more of a joke.
Can it be controlled using a Wii remote?
Also take a look at this photograph, you can see another one of Dr. Moeller's cars with a cable attached and it too is slacked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Moller_M400_hover_test.jpg
The thing with these vehicles is, there's no reason whatsoever that they can't work. I mean, if the fate of the USA rested on having a flying car ready *next month*, and Congress wrote DARPA a blank check, these things would be rolling off the production lines before Labor Day. The motors do produce a pretty amazing thrust-to-weight ratio; we've got the ability to make onboard control computers that can react in sub-microsecond time frames and gyroscope-on-a-chip components so cheap they put three of them (OK, one chip with three accelerometers) in each controller for a popular video game system. If a big budget got behind it, and the regulatory bodies that need to get involved had a fire lit under them, we could all be getting these things (OK, wishing we could afford these things) this time next year. The problem is, nobody wants to be the first to take a gamble.
I can see the wire! This movie is worse than Van Helsing.
You could trick that bad-boy out with some neon and blacklights and be a total space-pimp.
Why would he spend all this time working on the Skycar only to return to and release the devise he gave up on years ago?
Having spent almost a decade working for this guy, I can tell you it’s a dilusional scam. I think Moller believes it can work, but he has no idea how, in as much as the details are concerned. he has always been trying to push a “showroom” looking product, usually non-functional. There is NO power plant in production for this vehicle. The unit which has hovered briefly (now three years ago…) was powered by one of a kind (eight of a kind :-)) hand tweaked engines.The design is changed (improved?) every few years, just to keep the program going - meaning putting money in Moller’s pocket. He has made a thirty-plus year career out of this scam. The sad thing is that a few of the ideas and machines (like small robotic flyers) coming out of Moller might work, but that would mean actually building and selling a product - the last thing he wants to do. Hundereds of people have come and gone at Moller, many of them very talented and dedicated. He systematicly prevents their work from becoming a reality - that’s why he can’t keep anybody for long, especially these days. Remember that the M400 you have seen is over ten years old now, and has only hovered a few times under remote control, carrying only a few percent of it’s rated payload - read: fuel, electronics, passengers, avionics, etc. Its a scam, pure and simple. He is promising BIG things this year, so get ready to laugh some more….Personally I’m keeping an eye on the engine they are developing which will run on half diesel, and half water. Oh yeah!
I met a guy who invented a way of running an engine on halfe petrol halfe water and he sold the patent to a major petrol company way back in the days of innocence not realising they would shelve it.He invented the shale oil extraction proscess also, so i tend to believe him.
screw a skycar/hovercraft, i'm still waiting for some crazy scientist to invent the hoverboard!
For those of you saying go to his site and read so we understand, wake up. Aren’t you guys reading the information yourselves!!?? This guy has been working on this for 20 years and has produced no valid results. The only progress he makes is when he updates his website every year. Moller claims he has put $50 mil into this over 20 years time and all he has is a fancy fiberglass body that can hover for a few minutes as long as it has a safety tether. Put it into perspective - the Scaled Composites group (with Paul Allen financing) built a little thing called SpaceshipOne for $23 mil (probably in under 8 years, the Ansari X Prize wasn’t even established until 1996) and launched it into space. You could honestly pay a group of college students $10,000 (add a few $1,000 to have some body shop create a fancy body for it) to accomplish what Moller has - a tethered flight of a powered-lift vehicle. Dreams are important, but realizing when you’re being suckered is just as important.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_Skycar
Given the machine's very protracted development and its ambitiousness, skepticism that the machine will work as claimed remains high. In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Moller for civil fraud (Securities And Exchange Commission v. Moller International, Inc., and Paul S. Moller, Defendants) in connection with the sale of unregistered stock, and for making unsubstantiated claims about the performance of the Skycar. Moller settled this lawsuit by agreeing to a permanent injunction and paying $50,000. In the words of the SEC complaint, "As of late 2002, MI's approximately 40 years' of development has resulted in a prototype Skycar capable of hovering about fifteen feet above the ground."
Hmmm... New inventions...
It's unique.
www.netpreneur.cybersiti.com
Are those tyre-tracks in the grass behind the saucer?
It created its own crop circle already. Cool.
Romantic evening with the hovercar
I THINK WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!
WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF THE ENGINES! DID YOU SAY WE NEED TO GET BURIED? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
NO! MARRIED! MARRIED!
WHAT?!!
MARRIE.... AH, THE HELL WITH IT.
what jackass would proppose in a hover car?
I have an idea put a bigger blade on top of the vehicle, hmmm that would never work...
Seriously why get a hover car when you can get a helicopter?
this was a great trip down memory lane. i grew up in moller's hometown, davis, california. i first saw a prototype of his flying saucer when i was 12 or 13. i just turned 50--still no flying car. i had no idea he was still around, still plugging away.
Is this ripped from BetaMax?
Fake! (hahaha I know it's not but I say that at most anything)
It's a Fake.
I'm pretty sure it's a Frisbee with a light bulb attached or something.
The reason that the Segway didn't do so well is that Bush managed to fall off one of them just before it was released, In front of all the world press... What a knob!
Well,this is 2007 and we don't konw what's gonna be Next!
I dont think this is fake i think its excellent, im just unsure, it says in the news it can only hovver 3 metres above the ground so what happens if the ground slops will it just drop? Will we be able to use this on the road?
HI
Even though the saucer flew once upon a time. it won't fly today, cause they tore it apart. There are only a few of the snowmobile engines left (from the 60's) to power it with. The picture at the top of the page is a FAKE. That's former Supertrapp VP Peter Levin "flying" it. The suspension wires were airbrushed out. This picture was taken about 5 years before it finally flew. Even with some real pictures of it operating, Moller et al are so crooked and greedy they just can't resist circulating fake pictures. This sacuer has been around since 1973, and has spent perhaps 15 min total time in tethered hover, and nothing more. Google "Moller Scam" and see what you get....
As it was built by American, it is sure ugly. I'm looking forward for slicker versions that made in Japan, Germany, or Italy, possbily with BMW logo on its nose.
How about some untethered shots of this vehicle ACTUALLY WORKING?
On sale in a few months? Does it come with a crane or do I have to rent my own?
Courtney Dane
am i the only one here who wants one? this would be great for the backroads around here, lots of lakes and such that arent accessible, if/when i win the lottery, im buying one...