Miami High-Rise Projects Prepare For The Future Of Flying Cars
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The future of Miami's urban aviation is cleared for takeoff.
Developers of the new Paramount Miami WorldCenter in downtown Miami are banking on the future of flying cars and they are creating the world's first flying-car dock, or residential skyport, on the penthouse level of its 60-story tower.
Some developers believe transportation drones and 'air taxis' are closer and closer to becoming a reality so they are creating buildings with their own landing pads and Miami has three. Makes sense since Miami has such horrible traffic.
The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami Beach, slated to open in 2019, will have a 'floating helipad' for jets and helicopters and drones, once available. There is also a yacht to shuttle residents to their doorsteps.
Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum, which rises 62 stories and is nearly complete, was the first residential building in Miami to include a private rooftop helipad doubling as an observation deck over the bay.
Uber and Airbus are building personal transport drones and developers are banking on the uber rich to use them over the skies of Miami.
"These flying-car projects are the real deal," says Paramount Ventures CEO Dan Kodsi, who is the developer of Paramount and a recreational pilot.
"They are funded. NASA is involved. It's not just science fiction anymore."
Kodsi is converting the high-rise rooftop into a 5,000 square-foot Skyport for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, also known as passenger drones, or what some may call "flying cars."
"The future of transportation is here within the next 10 to 15 years and urban aviation is closer to reality than you might expect. The flying vehicles will use airspace to alleviate transportation congestion and traffic on the ground for quicker daily commutes, and cleaner air around the world. These vehicles are more like a helicopter, but much quieter, run electronically and are environmentally friendly," said Kodsi.
Ever since UBER Elevate announced it would begin testing its urban air taxis in Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Dubai in 2020, a galactic style race erupted from tech, aircraft manufacturers and automakers both domestic and international to develop flying cars. Including the German developers of Volocopter and Lillium, Airbus's Vahana, the Chinese developers of Ehang 184 and Terrafugia, Google's Kitty Hawk Flyer and Workhorse Surefly.
