Future present: Flying cars and robots... they are here already

Some versions of the car are turning into planes and robots are helping doctors. Here’s a peek into the days to come.

Back in the olden days, when the world of electronics was still young, gizmo dinosaurs such as big black telephones and boxy mechanical cars ruled the world. Only one man in the known universe then had a cool wireless telephone that fit in the palm of his adventurous hand; he would flip it open, and command, “Beam me up!” His name was Captain James Kirk, and he featured in a TV series called Star Trek. He wasn’t a real person — this was the stuff of good ol’ science fiction.

We’re still not being beamed up anywhere just yet, but the mobile phone has become ubiquitous in the years since the Enterprise first appeared on our black and white television screens. Everyone has a phone. What it can do now would have been science fiction 25 years ago, but doesn’t excite the least interest any more.

People have become jaded to the wonders of technology. If you told someone your mobile phone can switch on your washing machine and air conditioner at home, or translate from Chinese to English, or recognise almost any song, or do thousands of other nifty things, they would barely raise an eyebrow today. One or two eyebrows might rise a little at news that another of the cool things flashed in early sci-fi is close to reality.

The flying car is pretty much here already, in prototype form. At least three different companies around the world have developed working prototypes that are now in various stages of testing. The first flying cars are expected to hit the market between 2018 and 2020.

Terrafugia, one of the companies with a prototype, has a car that is like a microlight plane with folding wings. On the road, it works as a car. On an airfield, it spreads out its wings and simply, takes off. Aeromobil works on a similar concept too.

The German company Lilium is trying a different approach. Lilium’s flying car is a vertical take off and landing craft that would fly from rooftops or backyards. It is also going to be an electric vehicle that you can plug in and charge at home.

A Japanese group has tested a fourth approach to flying cars. Their vehicle is a modified drone, also fully electric, and capable of vertical take off and landing. These vehicles will not require pilot training as they are meant to be automatic to a great degree.

The technology for cars to drive themselves on roads is already at an advanced stage of testing, much thanks to Google. The company has tested driverless cars over a distance of more than 1.9 million kilometres without an accident or a traffic violation.

In other news, the Register, a tech site, reported earlier this week that robots would shortly be put to work selling pizzas in Japan. They are also increasingly taking over manufacturing jobs in China.

A specialist lawyer bot in the United Kingdom has already helped launch appeals in $3 million worth of parking ticket cases. Robots are already helping surgeons in their work. They are expected to soon start doing parts of surgeries, such as the suturing at the end, on their own.

So the good news is, a lot of science fiction fantasies are about to materialise before the decade is out. The bad news Well, if cars drive themselves, there won’t be any jobs for drivers. And if robots do everything from selling pizzas to making phones and dispensing free legal advice, there won’t be very many jobs left for human beings.