Aggies Build a “Flying Car”
Texas A&M represents only U.S. university still in international competition
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A group of Aggies has come up with a design – and a scaled-down prototype – of a “flying car” that will fit neatly in your garage. If all goes as planned, the team will commercialize the design, and we will see Aggie-designed vehicles overhead soon enough. See Video
The Texas A&M University students have been steadily advancing in an international competition with their concept for a personal flying vehicle, which has been referred to as a “flying car” and as a “flying motorcycle.” The Aggies are one of five teams to advance in the competition – GoFly sponsored by Boeing – and the Texas A&M team represents the only U.S. university left in the competition that has included other universities, start-ups and various companies.
The upward-looking Aggie aerospace engineering students, who are part of a team called Texas A&M Harmony, have advanced steadily in the GoFly competition that has involved more than 3,600 people on 825 teams from 103 countries.
GoFly will be giving away $2 million to the team with the best design for a safe and effective personal flying vehicle, and members of the Texas A&M team feel good about their chances. The final phase will take place in the spring of 2020.
To see a video with the team, its device and Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel
Chancellor Sharp said Moble Benedict, an assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at Texas A&M, has pulled together the ideal combination of talent and resources to allow our students to do great things.
“The sky is the limit for these brilliant students,” Chancellor Sharp said. “They are the perfect example of why the biggest companies in the world seek out Aggie engineers.”
The team’s flying machine is designed to carry one person and is propelled by two counter-rotating rotors. One of the differences between the Texas A&M creation and other designs in the GoFly competition is the noise level. The Aggie engineers came up with a much quieter personal flying vehicle that utilizes secret design elements the team isn’t ready to discuss publicly.
About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.7 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 153,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $996 million in FY 2017 and helped drive the state’s economy.
Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu