🧭 Carbon fiber flying car, Earth's magnetic North shifts, 2024's top robotics stories

China-based GAC Group has launched a new eVTOL-focused brand called GOVY, expanding its efforts in sustainable air transportation.

The new flying car brand focuses on designing, producing, and supporting flying cars and related products. Moreover, its flagship aircraft, AirJet, is claimed to operate as an air taxi for up to 124 miles.

Drawing on GAC’s automotive experience and in-house technology, GOVY aims to offer practical solutions for urban and intercity mobility. Delve deeper into our Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Staff/Sr. Staff DevSecOps Engineer
> Lead GenAI MLOps Engineer (Remote)

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MUST-READ

🚘 Flying car made with 90% carbon fiber offers 124-mile range, 30-minute recharge

The company introduced the AirJet as part of the brand’s debut. This marks GAC’s second flying car concept in two years, with the AirJet taking a more traditional eVTOL approach.

The AirJet is a composite-wing flying car with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. Made of over 90 percent carbon fiber, it weighs just one-third of a car body of the same size, enabling longer electric flights. Like other eVTOLs, it lifts off vertically and transitions its rotors mid-air for efficient cruising.

The AirJet joins GAC’s AirCar in development as the automaker expands its offerings in sustainable air travel. GAC envisions the AirCar for zero-emission trips up to 20 km (12.4 miles), while the AirJet is designed to operate as an air taxi for longer journeys up to 200 km (124 miles).

🧭 Earth’s magnetic North Pole is heading to Russia; what would it do to your GPS?

The recent WMM update reveals that Earth’s magnetic North Pole is moving from Canada to Siberia in Russia.

This shift is driven by the flow of molten iron and nickel between our planet’s two large magnetic lobes: the North American lobe beneath Canada and the Siberian lobe under Siberia.

In the last two decades, the movement of iron and nickel within Earth’s outer core has made the Siberian lobe region more active, strengthening its influence and causing the magnetic North Pole to move faster towards Siberia.

🤖 Top 7 must-read robotics stories of 2024 — Interesting Engineering

2024 witnessed tremendous innovations in robotics, from humanoids achieving human-like dexterity to giant robots working on train lines. Developers focused on problem-solving approaches to make these innovations.

Tesla Optimus robot, Figure 02 robot, and Clone Robotics’ ghostly humanoid robot are some of the innovations that stunned enthusiasts of robotics this year.

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