Hey everyone! Hope you all are safe and sound. Its been a long time since I've written a post, or uploaded any form of content on macroscope for that matter. To be honest, I had started macroscope at the beginning of the pandemic, when I had a bit of free time before my job officially started. I had intended to regularly post varied forms of tech content even after my job started, since I believed that it would excite me for the coming years. But it turns out, the consumer tech industry, and the tech industry in general, started to get a bit boring, repetitive and sometimes nonsensical to me. Earlier whenever MKBHD posted a video, I used to leave everything aside and watch it with the highest priority. But now, I watch it later.
So, I was looking for something else that could excite me. Something which has not become boring and commoditized, Something which involves a lot of innovation. Something people have dreamt of and have seen in countless science fiction movies. Something which is still under the radar of the common public and general people culture. Something which has an extremely bright future. Something that, if executed well, could change the face of the earth and people's lives as we know it. Something which everyone will aspire to have or experience. Something that would improve people's lives and solve a massive problem we all face all over the world which we have taken for granted.
Okay that was a lot of "somethings". You might be thinking, this guy is out of his head. What could he possibly be talking about? Well, I believe I have the answer.
But first, a quick flashback...
I live in Pune, India. My office is about 25km away from my home. So I have to face a bitch of a commute (~50kms daily). Granted, our company has provided us with transport, so a cab picks us up and drops us home to office and back. In the morning, it takes about ~50min to reach office, which is fine. But in the evening, like all major cities, we have to go through a lot of traffic to reach home. It takes me about 1.5hrs, sometimes even 2 hrs to reach home, and I'm tired as hell. My body aches, my head aches, I just have dinner and go to bed. Fortunately, we have a hybrid work setup, so I only have to go to office a couple times a week. But still, I prefer to work from office now since I am able to concentrate better and collaborate with my colleagues better.
One day, when I was in the cab traveling back to home, I was stuck in bad traffic. I was just looking out into the world and thinking, why can't the cab just elevate a couple of meters, and we would be free from all ground level traffic, and travel without any interruptions to our destination. Then it struck me, we are in dire need of flying cars. Just think about it. All the city vehicles currently operate in a 2D planar space which is the ground level, with the occasional multi-level flyovers, which cost a bomb to build (bomb used just as a figure of speech, not literally :) ).
Sure, some people would argue that overhead or underground subway metro train systems could solve this problem. Yes, it sure does. But firstly, it takes a lot of time, effort and money to build and maintain these systems. Secondly, in the case of Pune, our metro is just getting built, and it would take a lot more years to finish. So the role of the government corporation is also important and therefore, a dependancy. However, I believe that people still want the freedom to go where that wanna go in their own private or personal vehicle, especially since the pandemic began. Car sales have gone through the roof. There is such high demand for cars and bikes that as a customer, there is a high chance that you would get treated better at a grocery store like D-Mart than a car showroom.
And that's the most important thing - Freedom. The reason why public transportation is not the ultimate solution unfortunately. I understand that a wider adoption of public transport is better for the environment and the world, but I fear people put their freedom and comfort above saving the environment. Nothing wrong with that, it's just a natural human tendency.
I believe we have digressed a bit from the main topic, but I feel that the above explanation was necessary. My point was, we need flying cars. And we need it now. The most promising technology to achieve this goal seems to be eVTOL aircraft (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing).
The idea is simple. A car sized aircraft that can take off and land in a space smaller than a helipad, with no need for a runway.
So i started researching and reading about what's going on in the world of eVTOL aviation. I read some brochures from companies like Volocopter on how they plan to integrate these aircraft into the center of huge metropolises, watched videos of various experimental prototype aircraft like Lilium, E-Hang, Kittyhawk etc, and even read a reseach paper from Sweden regarding a study on the possible feasible use-cases for eVTOL machines for varied purposes.
While doing the above, I understood that we are still in a very nascent stage of having a production-spec eVTOL aircraft. The most prominent production use case of eVTOL currently has been the use of small quadrocopter drones from DJI which are mainly used for cinematography and videography.
I am confident that eVTOL aircraft will be accepted by the people as a common mode of transport in the future. For that, we have to make sure that these aircraft are fully autonomous with outstanding maneuverability and robust redundancy systems to ensure absolute safety of the passengers.
Once I have done a significant amount of research, I am planning to start a company which manufactures lightweight, durable, multi seater passenger eVTOL aircraft along with the series of supporting software systems and services. I cannot reveal my exact vision as it might lead to intellectual property theft knowingly or unknowingly.
You guys might be a little surprised by the last statement. You might be thinking that this guy is delusional. He just went from writing small blog posts about common tech to manufacturing aircraft? He must have gone off his Zoloft or something (The Big Short reference).
And i agree to all these thoughts. I formally studied computer engineering and I'm currently working as a software developer. But to go from that to building my own company? Yes it sounds foolish and impossible. And there is a very high chance of failure.
But then i remember this particular quote from Gandhiji
I am aware that this is going to be an uphill task and a huge gamble for me, professionally and personally. But I am ready to take calculated risks going forward and work on making my vision a reality. Of course, I will need all your support along the way.
From now on, I will be documenting my progress on this mission starting with a post probably every week. I will create a separate series for these posts called 'Project quad'. I will also continue posting posts on tech if i find something interesting to share.
I am also planning to write some posts regarding career, business, higher studies etc, stuff which I have experienced people doing. So do watch out for that.
All this is to create a space where I can document my thoughts and opinions, which I'm told is a very good practice to do. So I suggest you do too.
So here's to the beginning of the biggest mission of my life!
Thanks a lot for devoting your time to read my post, Any kind of feedback or suggestions are appreciated.
See you in the next one!