Renault Concept Car With Built-In Multicopter

For your Saturday morning amusement, from a BBC automotive blog :

Renault's Kwid concept packs a flying drone: It was inevitable, really, that car and flying drone would meet. And at this week’s Auto Expo India, they did. Renault’s Kwid concept off-roader broke cover in Delhi, and amid the usual show-car flourishes, including an amusing 1+2+2 seating arrangement, it showed off something entirely new: a built-in quadcopter drone. Called the Flying Companion, the drone operates either autonomously, following a pre-programmed flight sequence, or in manual mode, controlled via a tablet computer inside the car. According to Renault’s press materials, “The Flying Companion can be used for a variety of purposes, including scouting traffic, taking landscape pictures and detecting obstacles on the road ahead.” Renault states that the diminutive Kwid could be production-ready within two years – which, from the company that built such oddities as the Avantime and Twizy, are words to take seriously." (Photo: Renault, Text: BBC)

Well, Project Nadar, I can probably come up with a hundred reasons why this won't happen and why it's a bad idea and really silly and so on but not one of those reasons will suggest that it can't be "allowed" to happen. We are rapidly becoming crippled to the point of global paralysis by things of all sorts being randomly disallowed by a parasitic subclass or should I say subspecies of devolved bipeds who themselves prove the existence of miracles every morning by getting their pants on without the help of a brain. Renault, Amazon, UPS, the beer makers and pizza guys etc. are at least engaging in creative if silly marketing using fake UAVs, and while we snicker and snort at their antics they at least aren't doing us any harm or maybe even are softening the prevalent image of killer-pervert drones darkening the heavens.

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Comments

Oliver February 10, 2014 at 1:08am

Well, Project Nadar, I can probably come up with a hundred reasons why this won't happen and why it's a bad idea and really silly and so on but not one of those reasons will suggest that it can't be "allowed" to happen. We are rapidly becoming crippled to the point of global paralysis by things of all sorts being randomly disallowed by a parasitic subclass or should I say subspecies of devolved bipeds who themselves prove the existence of miracles every morning by getting their pants on without the help of a brain. Renault, Amazon, UPS, the beer makers and pizza guys etc. are at least engaging in creative if silly marketing using fake UAVs, and while we snicker and snort at their antics they at least aren't doing us any harm or maybe even are softening the prevalent image of killer-pervert drones darkening the heavens.
Project Nadar February 9, 2014 at 1:07pm

Yeah and Amazon begun shipping items with their drones... It's the new marketing trend as it seems. I can write down as most of us in here at least 100 reasons why this can't be allowed to happen.
Jonathan Parrott February 9, 2014 at 12:14pm

I think the main use for this UAV is for path scouting. The article does state that it's an off road vehicle so this UAV could be used for quickly finding the best path to go down a steep hill.
Emin Bu February 9, 2014 at 3:40am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF7it6_2j7Q
Rob_Lefebvre February 8, 2014 at 6:18pm

This is a great idea if you only drive your car at about 40 km/h for about 10 minutes at a time.
Bob February 8, 2014 at 4:40pm

This idea was out in the 90,s in a TV show Viper.ducted fan quad flew from a dodge viper.
Crashpilot1000 February 8, 2014 at 2:17pm

Absolutely useless junk for Joe driving to work. Just an advertising joke to show: look we are innovative and young. How about pulling off a working concept without fossile fuels? No, we produce a driving pizzabox with quadcopter. Where is the dislike button in this forum?
Dave Wicks February 8, 2014 at 1:18pm

I can picture it now.. Sitting in my car with goggles on and issuing the voice command to "Return home for battery" and the system lands on the platform on the roof and a conveyer belt pulls out the battery and slaps a new one in and the system asks me "ready to launch?"

Ahhhh, hurry up technology!
Moderator

Roberto Navoni February 8, 2014 at 12:48pm

We have a great application under development that doing exactly this function ... using gimbal ,too :)
Phil Gordon February 8, 2014 at 12:35pm

Their a bit behind the 8 ball these guys,I`ve been having my quad fly from my 1984 Nissan Pulsar for ages :)

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