Gm Studies Flying Cars - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, Feb, 2000 by Marjorie Sorge

Deep in the heart of General Motors' advanced engineering operations a small group of people are working on flying vehicles, admits Larry Burns, vice president of GM Research and Development. "I don't rule out flying," he says. "GM thinks about future possibilities." Burns points out that 8% of the world's population doesn't experience what he calls "automobility." As those nations become more advanced they may look for alternate methods of transportation, he says. "We are looking for technology that is robust in the future."

While flying vehicles are fun to discuss, Burns says "green" issues take up a good portion of GM's waking engineering hours. The automaker currently spends 60% of its r&d budget on those technologies.