The Future Has Arrived: You Can Now Get A Degree In ‘Flying Car’ Engineering

Forget about autonomous cars, flying vehicles are apparently right around the corner. In an effort to keep up with the times, online school Udacity recently announced that it will become one of the first to offer a “nanodegree” in flying car engineering.

Sebastian Thrun, who’s the co-founder of Udacity and a former Stanford University professor, expects the new flying car curriculum to be a hit when it opens later this February. According to a report by Reuters, Thrun believes the course could draw in at least 10,000 students.

While that doesn’t sound like a lot of students for a new course, the outlet claims that Udacity’s self-driving car program, which has been accepting students since 2016, has attracted a total of 50,000 applicants.

There are two terms that will both last 12 weeks. The first term, Aerial Robotics is currently at a discounted price of $899 and will be on sale until February 7. The regular price for the term is $1,200. The second term is referred to as Intelligent Air Systems and also costs $1,200.

In an interview with the outlet, Thrun stated that his motivation behind creating the flying-car program was because “it’s almost impossible to hire qualified people” when it comes to designing and engineering future machines.

“There is a huge shortage of engineers,” he said. “There are plenty of smart people – the missing link is education.”

Offering a course in flying car engineering may seem farfetched, but various companies are looking into the vehicles as a method of transportation and for delivery purposes. Participants that complete the courses could find themselves in a good position to land a job with a high-tech company in the future.