Control System for a Flying Car

The Challenge

A road-legal car had to transform into a certified light aircraft in minutes. Every actuator, sensor, and interlock had to be safe in both modes — with no room for ambiguity.

Approach

I worked on the mechanical design of the control system — specifically the kinematics of the push-rods and cables that drive the car-to-aircraft transformation. This covered defining the mechanism sequence, safety interlocks that prevent transitions in unsafe states, and validating edge cases through prototype testing.

Outcome

• →Transformation sequence defined and validated on the 4.0 prototype.
• →Safety interlocks preventing transitions outside defined bounds.
• →Control architecture carried toward certification.