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Pretty much since the day the car and the airplane coexisted people have dreamed of combining them into one all purpose, go-anywhere, do-anything vehicle.
几乎从汽车和飞机共存的那一天起，人们就梦想着把它们结合成一个可以去任何地方、做任何事情的通用交通工具。
Flying cars are emblematic of a future sci-fi world but a practical one that anybody can buy and fly has never materialized.
飞车是未来科幻世界的象征，但任何人都能买到并能飞的实用汽车却从未实现。
Now one company in the Netherlands thinks they've cracked the design, and their production version is officially road legal in Europe.
如今，荷兰的一家公司认为他们已经实现了这一目标，他们生产的版本在欧洲正式合法。
There's a lot of reasons cars and airplanes have yet to join forces.
汽车和飞机还没有合并起来是有很多原因的。
They have very different needs.
它们的需求是不同的。
Needs like the number of wheels.
比如对轮子数量的需求。
The four wheels on a car distribute its weight and provide traction and stability.
汽车上的四个轮子分配重量，提供牵引力和稳定性。
A 3-wheeled car is much more likely to roll when taking a turn at high speeds.
一辆三轮汽车在高速转弯时更容易侧翻。
But airplanes have 3 wheels because when they're on the ground they don't need to take turns at speed, so a 4th wheel would just be unnecessary weight.
但是飞机有三个轮子，因为当它们在地面上时，它们不需要在速度上轮流，所以第四个轮子只是不必要的重量。
Tricycle wheel arrangements are also better suited to landing in crosswinds.
三轮车的轮子布置也更适合在侧风中着陆。
Aircraft also have other needs like, oh yeah, wings.
飞机也有其他需求，比如机翼。
Whether they're fixed wings like an airliner or rotary wings like a helicopter, to generate enough lift they have to be much larger than the constraints freeway lanes and parking spaces would allow.
无论它们是固定翼（如客机）还是旋转翼（如直升机），要产生足够的升力，它们必须比高速公路车道和停车位所允许的限制要大得多。
So most designs for flying cars have wings that are either detachable or collapsible.
所以大多数飞行汽车的设计都有可以拆卸或折叠的机翼。
If they're detachable, they need to be towed behind the car in a trailer or left at the airfield.
如果它们是可拆卸的，就需要用拖车拖到汽车后面，或者留在机场。
If they're collapsible, the design of the car has to find a place to put them.
如果它们是可折叠的，汽车的设计必须找到放置它们的地方。
The more you dig into the idea, the more of a headache it becomes.
你越深入研究这个想法，它就越令人头痛。
That hasn't stopped some people from trying, and now one Dutch company, PAL-V, thinks their Liberty design can solve all these problems and make flying cars a practical reality.
这并没有阻止一些人的尝试，现在一家荷兰公司PAL-V认为他们的Liberty可以解决所有这些问题，让飞行汽车成为现实。
Starting with the undercarriage, which PAL-V credits as their main breakthrough.
从起落架开始，该公司认为这是他们的主要突破。
The company was looking for a three-wheeled design that could still be stable when turning at normal road-going speeds.
该公司正在寻找一种三轮设计，在正常道路行驶速度下转弯时仍能保持稳定。
In 2005, they discovered the work of another Dutch company, Carver, which made 3-wheeled cars that tilted like motorcycles.
2005年，他们发现了另一家荷兰公司Carver的作品，这家公司生产像摩托车一样倾斜的三轮汽车。
A hydraulic tilting system like that could eliminate the need for a 4th wheel and also be useful to raise the whole vehicle up, giving it ground clearance for a rear-facing propeller.
像这样的液压倾斜系统可以消除对第四个车轮的需要，也有助于提高整个车辆的高度，这样，离地距离就可以放置后置螺旋桨。
Then there was the matter of generating lift.
然后是产生升力的问题。
Fixed wing aircraft need air to move over their wings fast enough to stay aloft, otherwise they'll stall.
固定翼飞机需要空气以足够快的速度在机翼上方移动以保持在高空，否则它们会熄火。
A fixed wing flying car has to compromise the size and shape of its wings in the name of practicality, meaning its risk of stalling is higher.
一辆固定翼的飞行汽车必须足够实用，来调整机翼的大小和形状，这意味着它熄火的风险更高。
So PAL-V chose a rotary design instead, but rather than make their flying car a helicopter, they decided it should be an autogyro, also known as a gyrocopter.
所以PAL-V选择了一种旋转设计，而不是让他们的飞行汽车成为直升机，他们决定它应该是一个旋翼飞机，也被称为自转旋翼机。
If you don't know the difference it's easy to confuse the two.
如果你不知道两者的区别，很容易把两者混淆。
But unlike a helicopter which has a rotor powered by an engine, the rotor of an autogyro is unpowered in flight.
但旋翼飞机不像直升机有一个由发动机驱动的旋翼，它的旋翼在飞行中是无动力的。
Instead the air flowing over it causes it to spin and generate lift.
相反，流过它的空气使它旋转并产生升力。
The rotating blades means an autogyro cannot stall, and because they're unpowered engine failure doesn't spell total disaster.
旋转的叶片意味着旋翼飞机不能停止转动，因为它们没有动力，所以发动机故障并不意味着完全的灾难。
Landing an autogyro with no engine is the same process as landing one with an engine.
无引擎旋翼飞机的着陆过程与有引擎旋翼飞机的着陆过程相同。
Without one providing forward thrust the autogyro can't climb, but it can still descend steadily and under full control.
如果没有向前推力，旋翼飞机就不能爬升，但它仍然可以在完全控制下稳定下降。
Still to be safe, the Liberty has two engines powering a pusher propeller for forward thrust in case one fails.
为了安全起见，Liberty有两个引擎为推进器提供动力，以防其中一个失灵时向前推进。
Autogyros also have short takeoff and landing requirements, so setting one down in an emergency is less dangerous than in a fixed-wing aircraft that needs a longer strip of clear land.
旋翼飞机的起飞和着陆时间也很短，因此在紧急情况下放下一架比固定翼飞机的危险性要小，因为固定翼飞机需要更长的空地。
PAL-V's flying car seems to tick all the boxes.
PAL-V的飞行汽车似乎能满足所有的要求。
There's a minimal amount of labor required to convert it between road- and sky-going configurations, but the relative safety of the autogyro design and the tilting cornering on 3 wheels make it the gadget to end all gadgets.
在公路和空中行驶的配置之间转换它只需要最少的劳力，但是旋翼飞机设计的相对安全性和三个轮子上的倾斜转弯使得它不需要其他的配件。
Forget a sports car, nothing will impress a date like picking them up in a tilting whirligig of Dutch engineering.
忘掉跑车吧，没有什么能比在荷兰工程公司的旋转木马更好了。
The Liberty received road certification in Europe in October of 2020, bringing flying cars one-step closer to reality.
Liberty于2020年10月在欧洲获得公路认证，使飞行汽车更接近现实。
They hope to deliver to their first customers starting in 2022.
他们希望从2022年开始向第一批客户供货。
So if you had the money, would you buy this car?
如果你有钱的话，你会买这辆车吗？
When my co-workers at Seeker asked me that my answer was a resounding, "heck yeah!"
《科学探秘之旅》的同事问我这个问题时，我的回答是：“那当然啦！”
Let us know in the comments.
请在评论中告诉我们。
People have not only been strapping wings to cars, but rockets and jet engines too.
人们不仅把翅膀绑在汽车上，还把火箭和喷气发动机绑在上面。
Check out this video on one rocket-powered car designed to break the sound barrier.
看看这个火箭驱动的汽车设计冲破音障的视频吧。
Thanks for watching, don't forget to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on Seeker!
感谢收看，别忘了订阅这个节目，我们下次《科学探秘之旅》再见！
