Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber’s Flying Taxi

noviceanalysis.wordpress.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 46 posts

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#31

Post by taneq »

paulific wrote: post #15
melkiaur wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My guess is that Uber simply wants to maintain some hope of future growth, particularly with their autonomous car program in shambles. They also benefit from future free advertising. Everytime you'll see a bit of news talking about autonomous drones, flying taxis, or the like, you can bet that the writer will mention Uber, thus giving them free Brand recognition. The same happened with Amazon's delivery drones, or…

I missread that as "self driving crabs" and now I want to see that. :-)

Um, all crabs are self driving when alive.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#33

Post by taneq »

jdgilbert21 wrote: post #23
hndamien wrote: post #5

My guess is that there would be no pilots. Given they are attempting to get rid of drivers, getting rid of pilots in VTOL seems like an easier proposition with a large added weight advantage.

I think fully autonomous flight is a solution, but I also think it's further away than people imagine. For airplanes at least, the trickiest segments of flight are takeoffs and landings and even with today's advanced avionics suites, pilots are still in control for those portions of flight. The other big factor is the passengers. Even if technology for fully autonomous passenger flight is available in the next 10 yea…

DJI drones have been able to navigate back to their takeoff point and land automatically for a while now. Landing's much easier for a multicopter than for a fixed wing aircraft.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#34

Post by opencl »

stefanpl wrote: post #30
ben_w wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You jest, but cybernetic implants to remote control cockroaches and flying beetles is a thing, and even normal people can buy the former (RoboRoach Bundle is about US$160), so I wouldn’t be very surprised if someone makes a crab-based delivery cyborg.

Wow. That's actually mind blowing... I never would have thought that neural interfacing could be so cheap and affordable

Neural interfacing is not that complicated. It's just a microcontroller with two of the GPIO pins connected to antenna nerves, at most $5 worth of hardware.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#35

Post by opencl »

ukulele wrote: post #2

> Use that expertise to build a tilt-rotor commercial plane. They have, it's called the AW609. And like its predecessor V-22, it has crashed and killed the occupants early on and is nowhere near commercial readiness. Uber's estimates of commercial VTOL flight on an untested airframe by 2023 is total garbage, and they have to know it. The US military has sunk $50 Billion dollars into this problem over the last 30 year…

Not only is it an untested VTOL airframe that'll be commercially available in 5 years, it's an electric plane that will have 60 mile range and 5 minute recharge time. I'm shocked that the articles writing about this thing take all these ridiculous claims at face value.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#36

Post by theothermkn »

The article reads like machine- or cocaine-generated slop. There doesn't seem to be a single credible assertion in it. It has literally no point, as the author openly admits near the end of the article ("just my thoughts"), just before he closes by asking us to read his profound insights into why flying things shouldn't be heavy. This prose would receive a failing grade in a high school composition class.

I'm trying to resist the "Why is this on HN?" question, but can't. This is appalling dreck and doesn't belong here.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#37

Post by TeMPOraL »

opencl wrote: post #34
stefanpl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. That's actually mind blowing... I never would have thought that neural interfacing could be so cheap and affordable

Neural interfacing is not that complicated. It's just a microcontroller with two of the GPIO pins connected to antenna nerves, at most $5 worth of hardware.

In similar fashion, you can "mind control" a cat with a laser pointer.

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#38

Post by tartuffe78 »

taneq wrote: post #33
jdgilbert21 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think fully autonomous flight is a solution, but I also think it's further away than people imagine. For airplanes at least, the trickiest segments of flight are takeoffs and landings and even with today's advanced avionics suites, pilots are still in control for those portions of flight. The other big factor is the passengers. Even if technology for fully autonomous passenger flight is available in the next 10 yea…

DJI drones have been able to navigate back to their takeoff point and land automatically for a while now. Landing's much easier for a multicopter than for a fixed wing aircraft.

Ours went haywire and crashed into a pond onetime when we used the Return to Home feature. YMMV

Re: Uber’s Flying Taxi

#39

Post by reaperducer »

Will this thing try to navigate as well as Uber's car-based navigation that occasionally tells its drivers in Las Vegas that the best route from the airport to The Bellagio is through the lobby of the MGM?
Post reply on HN