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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”

#41

Post by dmayman »

gotocake wrote: post #32
dtparr wrote: post #26

What's the fail safe for aircraft with this kind of thrust? Planes can glide after a loss of power, helos autorotate, do these just fall out of the sky on a nice ballistic arc? Maybe one of those whole plane parachutes?

Such a parachute would be prohibitive in term of weight, so no. I suppose the pilot could wear a personal parachute, and hope to ditch far from people or property, but I think the odds are... "In the very unlikely event that all four engines fail, we’ll go straight into the ground like a fucking dart." -Billy Connolly

Spot on. Two parachutes for over 150ft. One for Speeder and one for pilot. Under 150ft see earlier answer.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#42

Post by npunt »

These don't look safe, even assuming perfect mechanical reliability, because humans will be piloting them over major population centers.

Humans are generally dumb and inattentive, and this particular vehicle looks like it would attract especially dumb humans who'd use them to try dumb things. Since they won't need any piloting certification, this is basically offloading risk onto everyone on the streets below.

I'd feel more comfortable if this were automated only. Then I'd at least be assured there'd be an organization held accountable, rather than a risk-seeking human who'd be dead anyway if it crashed.

If it were automated and had perfect mechanical reliability, then the only real issue is the noise pollution. Which still is going to be an issue, because these jets put out significant noise, and I haven't seen anything in the last 10-20 years since Moller's flying car prototypes to suggest that progress is being made there.

I love scifi as much as the next person here, but there's a lot of problems to solve before we put loud flying missiles in the hands of untrained adrenaline junkies flying over population centers.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#43

Post by dmayman »

dm8 wrote: post #15

While 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.

We opened our experience center in socal Nov 2018. Can come test out a real JetPack. Think the ifly model.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#45

Post by dmayman »

mlurp wrote: post #3

I 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?

We think they will. IF we can demonstrate it’s safe. Why not use a Speeder to get somewhere in 1/4 the time

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#46

Post by dmayman »

barefoot wrote: post #12
mlurp wrote: post #3

I 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.

Thank you. We have been working on it for a long time and believe in what we do. VTOL urban mobility will happen!

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#47

Post by fitzroy »

salimmadjd wrote: post #14

I 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…

4 - Quidditch

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#48

Post by dmayman »

ian0 wrote: post #8
mlurp wrote: post #3

I 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?

Yes! Even just for the fun component. But if it practically worked as a day to day driver it would absolutely revolutionise traffic in some cities, such as Jakarta with 18 million motorcycles all stuck in traffic. Cant imagine all the issues you'd have to work through to make that work though. It would be a good time to invest in roof-repair and insurance businesses.

Our Speeders will be safe and self separate way better than is possible with existing air traffic control systems.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#49

Post by pkaye »

snowmaker wrote: post #27
pkaye wrote: post #24

I wish there was a "moonshot" for something like The Kidney Project ( https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney ) A project to produce an artificial kidney. It was kept alive by small donations by kidney patients over the years. Now maybe on better footing and closer to human testing. But still nothing funded like these pie in the sky moonshot project that people will care nothing about in a few years.

If you want to start it and apply to YC, we'd be very interested.

I don't mean to imply I'm involved in the Kidney Project. With the time I spend in dialysis, I'm in no position to even take on such a venture. I just wanted to point out there are very meaningful projects other there with a little more visibility and funding can reach success sooner. There are millions of those on dialysis which would be able to get our lives back on track (work, live, travel) if this project becomes successful. The cost savings vs dialysis are enormous. The project is close to human testing. All I'm asking is for VCs to make a good faith effort to learn about it.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#50

Post by repiret »

egypturnash wrote: post #19

I 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.

Assuming it would be operating under 14 CFR Part 91 like the rest of general aviation, I think the law is quite clear:

91.119: "Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes: (a)Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface."

91.151: "(a) No person may begin a flight in an airplane under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed - (1) During the day, to fly after that for at least 30 minutes; or (2) At night, to fly after that for at least 45 minutes. (b) No person may begin a flight in a rotorcraft under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed, to fly after that for at least 20 minutes."

And it's not like it hasn't happened before. Small aircraft land on houses with enough regularity that I would expect the law to be well settled. See [1] and [2] for recent examples.

[1]: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-4-people-killed-... [2]: https://abcnews.go.com/US/911-call-captures-race-free-woman-...

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