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Flying cars

spmx.ca

1–10 of 54 posts

Re: Flying cars

#2
Most people are lucky to drive a year without a costly mistake. Put them in the air, and their mistake (or a self-driving mistake) means death.

And even if we can make personal air travel safe, how ever are we going to coordinate it?

I appreciate the advances we gain from the crazy/idealistic people who invest time or money on flying car ideas, but it is just never going to happen. The earth will burn and humans will die before that becomes a thing.

Some HN readers are working for auto driving companies, and they know how hard it is to be safe on the ground. Now add the whole of vertical space, plus aerodynamics, to the equation. These people might as well put their energy into teleportation (not really a pun intended, but it's kind of there).

s/trans/tele

Re: Flying cars

#5
For people who are into this, also check out the goflyprize.com

It was pretty fun to see what designs people came up with. I think some of these companies even had YouTube videos with prototypes already working.

Re: Flying cars

#6
post #3

"We have flying cars today, they're called helicopters" - Neil deGrasse Tyson

I do think there's a point here to be made. I'd imagine the helicopter and personal flight space to look a lot different if regulation about flight would never be introduced, for one reason or another.

Re: Flying cars

#7
post #2

Most people are lucky to drive a year without a costly mistake. Put them in the air, and their mistake (or a self-driving mistake) means death. And even if we can make personal air travel safe, how ever are we going to coordinate it? I appreciate the advances we gain from the crazy/idealistic people who invest time or money on flying car ideas, but it is just never going to happen. The earth will burn and humans will…

On the other hand, software that manages traffic in the air automatically might be much more simple. No kids suddenly crossing the street, no traffic deviations due to construction, no obsolete system of signalling that can be manually overriden by any construction worker, etc.

Re: Flying cars

#9
I remember the Moller Sky Car ads that were in every Popular Science magazine of my youth 35-40 years ago. That beautiful, deep red, futuristic machine with the rotating engine pods was something little me was sure I'd be flying around in some day. Life disappoints.

Re: Flying cars

#10
post #2

Most people are lucky to drive a year without a costly mistake. Put them in the air, and their mistake (or a self-driving mistake) means death. And even if we can make personal air travel safe, how ever are we going to coordinate it? I appreciate the advances we gain from the crazy/idealistic people who invest time or money on flying car ideas, but it is just never going to happen. The earth will burn and humans will…

Isn't it going to be easier to be safe on the sky as there's much more space, i.e. collision rate will be much much lower?
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