2011年，Peter Thiel对他的硅谷同行提出了这样的观点：“我们得到了关于飞行汽车的承诺，但仅限于140个字的推文。”Thiel想知道，未来期待已久的创新何时才能看到曙光。

In 2011, Peter Thiel made the view of his Silicon Valley colleagues: "we've got a commitment to a flying car, but only 140 words." Thiel wants to know when the long awaited innovation will dawn.

在过去的一年中，这种未来似乎已经卷土重来。

In the past year, this future seems to have come back.

忽然之间，一切都在快速变化。“打飞的”是人人交口相谈的话题。超音速和超高音速飞行也是如此。商业媒体的技术版块时常充斥着未来移动出行的原型、项目和想法。

All of a sudden, everything was changing quickly. "Flying" is a topic for everyone to talk about. The same is true of supersonic and supersonic flight. The technical sections of commercial media are often full of prototypes, projects and ideas for mobile travel in the future.

这些创新被视为具有新闻价值，因为它们会影响用户体验 - 而不是“引擎盖下”的发展。但从实际情况来看，很难否认交通运输的创新速度一直在加快。

These innovations are seen as newsworthy because they affect user experience rather than the development of "under the hood". But judging from the actual situation, it is hard to deny that the innovation speed of transportation has been accelerating.

搭乘飞机。并不是说这个行业没有创新。至少，今天的飞机比50年前更安全、更清洁、更安静，飞得更远。但它们并不快，事实上，大多数都比60年代要慢。

Take a flight. It's not that there's no innovation in the industry. At least, today's planes are safer, cleaner, quieter and farther away than they were 50 years ago. But they are not fast. In fact, most of them are slower than 60s.

与我们今天看到的完全不同。让我们来看看是什么推动了三个范围的创新热潮：短途，中途和长途旅行。

It's quite different from what we saw today. Let's see what drives the three area of innovation Craze: short haul, midway and long distance travel.

‘最后’一英里(实际上：100英里)

'last' a mile (actually: 100 miles)

移动出行的大部分压力来自城市，而城市化是全球趋势。因此，在城市中心可以看到许多最明显和最先进的创新。

Most of the pressure from mobile travel comes from cities, and urbanization is a global trend. Therefore, many of the most obvious and advanced innovations can be seen in urban centers.

城市已经促成了新参与者的出现。仅在一年前推出电动踏板车的供应商Bird已经价值超过20亿美元。 Jump是一家共享电动自行车供应商，去年4月被Uber以2亿美元的价格收购。除了出租车，其他交通工具现在也被新的商业模式所颠覆。

The city has led to the emergence of new participants. Bird, a supplier of electric scooters only a year ago, has been worth more than $2 billion. Jump, a supplier of shared electric bicycles, was bought by Uber at a price of $200 million last April. Besides taxis, other modes of transport are also being overturned by new business models.

在街道上不太明显(目前)的是寻求为城市交通增加第三个维度的项目，毕竟，城市头顶的天空“未得到充分利用”(如空中客车所说)。 Uber Elevate计划于2023年在洛杉矶和达拉斯等城市设立飞行出租车(包括“电动垂直起降”汽车或eVTOL)。该公司向我们(和Peter Thiel)保证，这一推出将 “更接近”我们想象。

Less obvious on the street (at the moment) is a project seeking third dimensions for urban traffic, after all, the sky on the top of the city is "not fully utilized" (as Airbus says). Uber Elevate plans to set up flying taxis (including "electric vertical takeoff and landing" cars or eVTOL) in cities such as Losangeles and Dallas in 2023. The company assured us (and Peter Thiel) that the launch would be "closer" to our imagination.

这些即将到来的“最后一英里”解决方案背后有两个主要驱动因。在需求方面，我们关注的是城市化的增加和超大城市的发展。在解决方案方面，我们在电气化等技术方面取得了进步。这两种力量今天都很强大，并没有减弱的迹象。所有这些激动人心的进步都使得该行业的研发和工程人才异常忙碌。我们已经看到了在共享移动出行中定义标准的行动。

There are two main drivers behind these upcoming "last mile" solutions. In terms of demand, we are concerned about the increase of urbanization and the development of mega cities. In terms of solutions, we have made progress in electrification and other technologies. These two forces are very strong today, and there is no sign of weakening. All these exciting progress have made the R & D and engineering talents of the industry extremely busy. We have seen actions to define standards in shared mobile trips.

而且，正如我们去年写的关于飞机电气化的文章，该行业正在努力改进电池(以及电网)。开发商和提供商正与监管机构坐下来协商。因为无可否认的是：带转子的飞行物体总会产生噪音，在人工智能和传感器技术可以在天空中飞行的阶段之前，安全问题必须解决。

And, as we wrote last year about aircraft electrification, the industry is working to improve batteries (and power grids). Developers and providers are sitting down with regulators. Because it is undeniable that a flying object with a rotor will always produce noise, and the security problem must be solved before the stage of artificial intelligence and sensor technology can fly in the sky.

在1000英里半径范围内，我们去年写的混合动力和电动短程飞机在不久的将来可能会增加相当大的载客量，同时对乘客来说，更加安静、省油和舒适。

In the 1000 mile radius, the hybrid and electric short-range aircraft we wrote last year could increase a considerable number of passengers in the near future, and are more quiet, fuel and comfortable for passengers.

但是其他一些东西正在这个细分市场掀起波澜。虽然飞机已经针对1,000英里的行程进行了优化，但从他们的家庭(或工作场所)到机场，从机场到酒店，还有优化的空间。

But something else is going on in this market segment. Although the aircraft has been optimized for the 1000 mile trip, it has an optimized space from their home (or workplace) to the airport, from the airport to the hotel.

对真正的门到门解决方案的需求正在上升，这是超级高铁等解决方案的用武之地，以完成未来的多模式运输组合。它的承诺不仅是连接城市中心，还提供超快速的机场运输。

The demand for real door to door solutions is rising. This is the solution for super high speed rail to fulfill the future multimodal transport portfolio. Its commitment is not only to connect the city centre but also to provide super fast airport transportation.

10,000英里(及以上)

10000 miles (and above)

然后有人想要真的、真的飞很远，以及飞得非常快。

Then someone wants to fly really, really far, and fly very fast.

创业公司Boom预订了日本航空公司55座超大型飞机中的20架。至少还有两家超级创业公司希望尽快进入市场。洛克希德·马丁公司和NASA也在研究超音速原型。

The start-up company Boom has booked 20 of Japan's airlines' 55 super large aircraft. At least two superstartups hope to enter the market as soon as possible. Lockhead Martin and NASA are also studying the supersonic prototype.

不甘示弱的波音公司上个月提出了一种超音速客机概念， 一架可以达到5马赫的飞机。

The Boeing company, who refused to be outdone, proposed a concept of supersonic airliner last month, a plane that can reach 5 Maher.

与此同时，SpaceX的愿景是，弹道导弹运送乘客在全球各地旅行，如果你喜欢，可以称之为“城际火箭”。从纽约到巴黎的旅行时间仅为30分钟，时速为27,000公里。根据埃隆·马斯克的说法，票价与普通经济舱相当。

At the same time, the vision of SpaceX is that ballistic missiles can be used to transport passengers around the world. If you like, they can be called intercity rockets. The journey from New York to Paris is only 30 minutes and the speed is 27000 kilometers per hour. According to Elon Musk, the fare is the same as the general economy class.

那么是什么推动了超音速(和超高音速)飞行的回归呢?显然，增材制造和材料等融合技术正在引起人们的兴趣，因为他们指出3D打印制造轻型飞机零件的可行性，还可以承受超高音速或火箭飞行的极端条件。

So what drives the regression of supersonic (and ultra high sonic) flight? Obviously, fusion technology, such as material making and material, is arousing interest, because they point out the feasibility of 3D printing of light aircraft parts and the extreme conditions of supersonic speed or rocket flying.

其他一些技术创新也使这些飞机的建造和维护成为可能。

Other technological innovations have made the construction and maintenance of these aircraft possible.

大数据和人工智能将使制造商和运营商能够实现预测性维护和健康管理 - 这对于无人驾驶飞行器和太空旅行，以及军用和商用喷气机非常重要。

Large data and artificial intelligence will enable manufacturers and operators to achieve predictive maintenance and health management - which is very important for unmanned aerial vehicles and space travel, as well as military and commercial jets.

行业参与者已经使用区块链作为在航空航天价值链中所有参与者之间，共享飞机零件信息的手段。这只是数字革命的一个例子，它促进了数字线和数字双胞胎的发展。

Industry participants have used block chains as a means to share information of aircraft parts among all participants in the aerospace value chain. This is just one example of the digital revolution, which promotes the development of digital and digital twins.

那么，我们将在短短半小时内从纽约前往巴黎吗?

So, will we leave New York for Paris in just a half hour?

这不太确定。然而，可以肯定的是，可获得投资对于实现这些崇高目标非常重要。

It's not quite sure. However, it is certain that investment can be very important for achieving these lofty goals.

资金可用性扩大了生态系统。太空和空中旅行是由航空航天公司参与者形成的领域，现在由埃隆·马斯克(SpaceX，Hyperloop)，杰夫·贝佐斯(蓝色起源)，理查德·布兰森(维珍银河和维珍轨道)以及微软联合创始人保罗·艾伦(Stratolaunch系统)加入。传统参与者和创业公司都从现有的资金中受益。

The availability of funds has expanded the ecosystem. Space and air travel is a field formed by Aerospace Corporation participants, now joined by Elon Mask (SpaceX, Hyperloop), Jeff Bezos (blue origin), Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic and virgin orbit) and Microsoft co - founder Paul Alan (Stratolaunch system). Both traditional participants and start-up companies benefit from existing funds.

在寻求大规模采用未来解决方案的过程中，新的参与者正在加入航空航天业。 100多年来，大型和小型企业已成功合作并就某些标准达成一致。他们今天继续这样做，同时在采用大数据，自动化、区块链和3D打印等新技术达成共识。

In the process of seeking large-scale adoption of future solutions, new participants are joining the aerospace industry. Over the past 100 years, large and small enterprises have successfully cooperated and agreed on certain standards. They continue to do so today and agree on new technologies such as big data, automation, block chaining and 3D printing.

鉴于重要技术、监管和安全挑战，共识是整个行业的前进方向。

In view of the important technical, regulatory and security challenges, consensus is the way forward for the industry as a whole.（文编译飞行汽车feiauto）www.feiauto.com

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