Self-driving car experts offer online degree in 'flying cars'

With companies from Airbus and Amazon to Uber throttling up development of their own autonomous aerial vehicles, Thrun believes "in a few years time, this will be the hottest topic on the planet." As usual, Thrun intends to be on the cutting edge of this emerging technology. The 50-year-old PhD computer scientist and former Stanford University professor, co-founded Udacity in 2012 and says the online school's self-driving car program has attracted 50,000 applicants since 2016. He expects the new flying car curriculum, which opens in late February and begins taking applications on Tuesday, to draw at least 10,000. Udacity is offering two 12-week terms, at $1,200 each, including a course in Aerial Robotics and one in Intelligent Air Systems, that provide an online certification in a fraction of the time of a traditional degree course.