Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 8 March 2018
High hopes: Dutch company launches flying car at Geneva show

By MIKE CORDER ($615,000) for the first pro-
BREDA, Netherlands (AP) duction run of 90, the flying
— Robert Dingemanse has cars are not for everybody,
heard the comparisons but Dingemanse said he
many, many times. The Jet- has plenty of buyers lined
sons, Harry Potter, James up. They will have to be-
Bond. come certified gyroplane
As CEO of a Dutch compa- pilots to take their PAL-V
ny developing a flying car, into the sky and the com-
he's used to curious people pany is offering training
whose only frame of refer- courses, too. Just don’t ex-
ence for his new vehicle pect this flying car to lift off
comes from cartoons or vertically if it gets caught
movies. But as of this week, in a traffic jam. The PAL-V
Dingemanse's dream of needs a short runway or
letting commuters (albeit grass airstrip to take off and
well-heeled ones) choose land. With the first produc-
whether to drive or fly to tion model of the car now
work comes a significant ready, the company can
step closer. He is unveiling begin the final stages of
the first production mod- certification with road and
el of the PAL-V Liberty, a aviation authorities in Eu-
three-wheeled, two-seat rope and elsewhere.
car and gyroplane rolled The New PAL-V Liberty a car that flies, a plane that drives is presented during the press day at the The U.S. Federal Aviation
into one, at the Geneva 88th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Administration said it is con-
motor show. Associated Press stantly working to integrate
"Flying cars have been in new technology into its
movies many, many times bility program, doesn't see Its makers say the PAL-V away, the tail retracts and regulations.
and they will be available flying cars as much more will drive at up to 170 kilo- the PAL-V is ready to drive. “Urban mobility technology
next year," Dingemanse than a niche market. meters per hour (105 mph), Switching from road to air- is highly promising and we
told The Associated Press at "It's not really going to be fly up to 180 kmh (110 mph) craft mode takes about 10 are vigorously working to-
an airport near the south- a substantial part of the and can fly about 500 ki- minutes including perform- wards the development of
ern Dutch city of Breda as total mobility industry," he lometers (310 miles) on a ing the necessary checks, policy and regulations to
he stood next to a sleek, said. "It's a nice gadget to single tank of regular un- the company says. support it,” the FAA said in
black prototype of the PAL- combine it with a car so ... it leaded gas. Land it and With a price tag expected a written response to ques-
V Liberty. The PAL-V Liberty might be a successful com- the rotor and propeller fold to be around 500,000 euros tions from AP.q
is one of several flying cars pany in selling quite a few,"
in development around he said of the PAL-V. Facebook, Twitter urged to do
the world such as The Tran- In the air, the PAL-V is
sition, a folding wing two- pushed forward by a rear
by U.S.-based Terrafugia, by two engines. It is sta- more to police hate on sites
seater being developed mounted propeller driven

and an all-electric vertical bilized by a larger roof-
take-off and landing jet be- mounted rotor that bolsters By KAREN MATTHEWS groups on their sites but ance," Cooper said at a
ing developed by German safety. Associated Press more work needs to be New York City news confer-
startup Lilium. "The rotor is not powered," NEW YORK (AP) — Tech gi- done, the Simon Wiesen- ence.
Carlo van de Weijer, direc- Dingemanse said, "so it's ants Facebook, Twitter and thal Center said Tuesday. Rick Eaton, a senior re-
tor of Eindhoven's Techni- actually a parachute Google are taking steps to The organization released searcher at the Wiesenthal
cal University's Smart Mo- which is always available." police terrorists and hate its annual digital terrorism Center, said hateful and
and hate report card and violent posts on Instagram,
gave a B-plus to Facebook, which is part of Facebook,
a B-minus to Twitter and a are quickly removed but
C-plus to Google. not before they can be
Facebook spokeswoman widely shared.
Christine Chen said the He pointed to Instagram
company has no comment posts threatening terror
on the report. Representa- attacks at the upcoming
tives for Google and Twitter World Cup in Moscow. An-
did not immediately return other post promoted sui-
emails seeking comment. cide attacks with the mes-
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, sage "You only die once.
the Wiesenthal Center's as- Why not make it martyr-
sociate dean, said Face- dom." Cooper said Twitter
book in particular built used to merit an F rating
"a recognition that bad before it started crack-
folks might try to use their ing down on Islamic State
platform" into its business tweets in 2016. He said the
model. "There is plenty of move came after testimo-
material they haven't dealt ny before a congressional
with to our satisfaction but committee revealed that
overall, especially in terms "ISIS was delivering 200,000
of hate, there's zero toler- tweets a day."q