This article is produced by NetEase Smart Studio (public number smartman 163). Focus on AI and read the next big era! [NetEase Smart News Nov. 11 news] It seems that start-up companies like flying cars will eventually take over the 140-character technology companies we are familiar with. Liliumon, a European-based startup company, is developing an all-electric unmanned flying taxi. It has completed Tencent’s $90 million Series B round of financing and has received the support of several well-known venture capital companies (including Atomico). Obviously, flying cars are transforming from a fascinating concept to a mature technology and a promising investment concept. However, we will soon see flying cars appear in the real world? How will the market environment evolve? The first thing I want to do to answer these questions is to provide a snapshot of the current flying car ecosystem. The following is my observation: The flying automotive ecosystem is maturing. There are currently 15 start-up companies developing different flying car concepts (including suspension bikes), and more companies are still in underground mode or early stages. In addition, many heavyweight companies such as Airbus and Toyota are also developing this technology. More than half of the flying car companies are American companies. But there are also many powerful European flying car startups, including two well-funded startups Lilium and Volocopter, who have recently led the news in the flying automotive industry. In detailing the financing statistics, FCA has raised $310.7 million from all branches of the VC ecosystem: typical venture companies (such as Atomico), companies (Daimler, Toyota, Tencent) And well-known angel investors (such as Google founder Larry Page). It is worth mentioning that in 2017 we witnessed the largest financing in this area completed mainly by Lilium (90 million US dollars) and Volocopter (29.5 million US dollars). Summarizing these data, we can see that there are already quite a number of flying car startups. Investors also have a clear interest in this area, and this year's growth is very significant. What is the driving force behind this? Why does this happen? The two main factors that I will promote to move forward in this area are summarized as follows: Important marketing momentum and required technologies are maturing. On the one hand, the concept of flying cars has recently attracted the attention of heavy industry players, such as Uber (starting the Elevate project) and the UAE government (first publicly conducting a flying taxi test), which has caused less attention to aviation such as Atomico and Tencent. Investors' interests in the field. Another aspect is that the technology associated with drones has developed rapidly. This technology has proven its value for improving corporate profits, and has changed from consumer-oriented toys to practical tools such as construction and agriculture. Used in various industries. Now, a similar situation has occurred in flying cars. Currently, applications such as delivery and emergency operations are being explored. It may even subvert the development of the entire mobile industry. In fact, the technology needed to fly a car has finally arrived. The biggest challenge in creating safe and effective vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles (such as combining helicopters and aircraft) is being solved through aircraft design innovations, coupled with recent advances in automatic flying, electric motors, and batteries, let us With a clearer vision for the future, solar-powered automatic flying vehicles can be used in large cities and rural areas. However, despite this technology being ready and the industry and investors have a strong interest in it, there are still some obstacles, the biggest challenge being the integration of flying cars (and drones) into public airspace. This is a very complicated issue in terms of supervision, such as whether a flying car should be controlled by an operator remotely or is it allowed to drive automatically? In addition, it also needs infrastructure support, how to track and control countless unmanned aerial vehicles? And how to protect these network physical assets? There are also technical challenges, how to coordinate thousands of flight routes in real time, and provide collision management? Both government agencies and large corporations are struggling to meet these challenges. For example, in the United States, flying cars are supported by companies such as NASA, Google, Intel, and Weixin. But anywhere in the world, such systems are far from being fully implemented in the country. Flying cars are certainly eye-catching. The outlook for the market environment will evolve like this: we will see the emergence of flying cars in the mass market within 10-15 years, and this time it may be necessary to solve the problem of integration into public airspace. In a sense, convincing customers that this idea is no more crazy than ICO or VR games. Flying cars show an interesting investment opportunity. We will see more and more strategic investors and venture capital companies providing funds for this area. In addition, we are likely to see some M&A deals in this area. There are quite a few companies that are interested in flying cars. For example, Boeing recently acquired Aurora, a startup company dedicated to autonomous flight technology. (From: techcrunch Compilation: NetEase See Compiler Robot Review: Little) Pay attention to NetEase smart public number (smartman163), obtain the latest report of artificial intelligence industry.