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YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
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Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#12I know it's really hard to predict what people will or won't want in the future, but... Would people want this, even if it worked really well?
If it worked well and was free from regulation significantly limiting its use then a guess is there would be a substantial market for something like this.
Most importantly, we’ll never get to a future like what was imagined in the video if people are not taking honest shots at it. The fact that this is being given a chance is very exciting.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#13"The Speeder is “at least” two years of development time away from ending up in customer hands."
vs.
"Joby Aviation has spent the last decade developing their own electric motors and their current VTOL design from the ground up." [0]
I'd guess that it's at least two years after development has completed in order to get through final certifications for whichever regulatory agencies have a say in this.
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/08/the-electric-aircraft-is-t...
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#14I love so many things about this, yet at the same time I don't get the positioning of this product.
1 - Is this is a product for consumers who buy $300-500K super sports cars?
2 - Is this targeted to the consumers who buy private planes?
3 - Is this for search and rescue market?
Group 1 - I don't know. Why not buy a drone-based technology that runs on batteries that might be cheaper and perhaps more reliable. Yes, it may not have the same energy density of batteries, but you can get your 20 min of thrill, super charge it and fly again for another 20 min.
Group 2 - I don't see this being comfortable, they'll buy a single engine plane with seats for 4 that is more comfortable and you don't freeze, or for more adventures people a trike at a fraction of a cost would do fine.
Group 3 - For search and rescue, you probably go as a team of 2-3 people and if you're rescuing people you need to bring them back. So you'll need a fleet of these. I understand helicopters are expensive, but once you add a few of these, then you're compete with a true and tested helicopter model.
Maybe at the end of the day, they'll make this autonomous, put a few missiles on it and then sell it to the pentagon. It's agile and fast and probably can make an argument for its tactical advantages.
edit: typo
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#15While most people are focused on how it will work for commute and day to day activities, even if it doesn't work for those use cases, it is great for theme parks, adventure rides type of use cases. People spend millions of $$ every year on those "weird" roller coaster rides and theme parks.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#16The $150,000 investment seems like a great deal for marketing. If the product ends up being feasible that's an added bonus.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#17I know it's really hard to predict what people will or won't want in the future, but... Would people want this, even if it worked really well?
If there were only few of those around and you could afford one and it had good range imagine how it would cut your commute. Fly to your cabin in the woods in no time (rather than sit in traffic for hours) to chill for a bit? Worth the money.
Motorcycles can already do that due to the wonders of lane splitting.
Wouldn’t you need a pilot’s license for this? If it only flies so low that you don’t, isn’t it then suuuuper dangerous?
I say the dangerous part as a former Boosted Board afficionado and current motorcycle rider
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#18I know it's really hard to predict what people will or won't want in the future, but... Would people want this, even if it worked really well?
If there were only few of those around and you could afford one and it had good range imagine how it would cut your commute. Fly to your cabin in the woods in no time (rather than sit in traffic for hours) to chill for a bit? Worth the money.
Until every other idiot driver also gets one, and now you have distracted driving and other poor behavior, but in the skies.
They said the exact same thing about cars when they first came out.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#19I am looking forwards to the legal circus after some rich idiot buys one of these and runs out of fuel over someone else's house.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#20I love so many things about this, yet at the same time I don't get the positioning of this product. 1 - Is this is a product for consumers who buy $300-500K super sports cars? 2 - Is this targeted to the consumers who buy private planes? 3 - Is this for search and rescue market? Group 1 - I don't know. Why not buy a drone-based technology that runs on batteries that might be cheaper and perhaps more reliable. Yes, it…
The specs say it only has a 10 - 22 minute flight-time anyway. This is for joyriding only.