AirCar, a dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle moved closer to production this week, fulfilling a key development milestone in a 35-minute flight from the internat...
We have had legit flying cars for generations, they are called “helicopters” and most people can’t afford or safely pilot one.
If you think the classic sci-fi “in the future we’ll all be using flying cars and it’ll be awesome” thing is a good idea, just try to realistically imagine how crappy life would be for us all if you and every idiot you fight with in traffic every day had a helicopter.
You can’t with this car plane either, a runway that gives room for the wings and tail to extend AND to be out while moving forward up to speed or landing will be necessary.
I just imagine people crashing their cars into roofs and stuff whether by accident or on purpose. Plus there are all the people who drive impaired or don’t maintain their vehicles.
Really don’t see it working unless there is also autopilot.
We have cars for the land. We have boats in the water which are very much like cars for waterways. Then there are duck boats which are a hybrid that have never been anything more than a gimmick.
Flying is the same way. A small helicopter can be thought of like a car or boat, but for the air. They all fulfill similar things, just through water, land, or air.
To make the duck boat of the sky (the flying car), we’ll end up with the same issues as the duck boat. It won’t be particularly good at anything. It will be a bad car and a bad flying machine, which will leave it as a gimmick that makes even less sense than the duck boat. A good car/boat hybrid could eliminate the need for bridges in many cases. The dream of the flying car is mostly to avoid traffic, which could be improved with better infrastructure. If everyone was flying the way they think, it would be chaos. Flying cars are only cool when you’re the only one with the flying car.
You’re using that point to call them different, I’d use that same point to call them all alike. Passenger vehicles are all fairly consistent in concept, and this is why no scifi “flying car” will be markedly different than giving every dope with a driver’s license their own helicopter.
maybe they are talking about the helicopters you can drive around in too. they don’t have big rotors on top, just basically a little fan in the front to cool the radiator when not in flight mode.
If they were driven by competent AI, it could be feasible with a slew of new safety regulations in specified areas of the country/world.
But we aren’t even there yet with cars. You could absolutely argue some companies are very close, though! 100% not Tesla at any stretch of the imagination, but others have been putting the work in for over a decade with advanced technologies and countless hours of testing.
The competency of the AI is key. Maybe we’ll be there in another generation or two, but I’m not inspired with much confidence while even the big celebrated AI models still work like crap and can’t be trusted with actual human safety.
Also, accidents will always happen no matter what. On a 2D road a crash can be very tragic, but the area of effect is way limited compared to an equivalent car crash happening in the air causing human and machine parts to rain down dangerously onto an entire neighborhood and the people in it. Even under some imaginary complete and flawless AI control, any airborne “road” will always be a hazard to whatever’s underneath it.
We have had legit flying cars for generations, they are called “helicopters” and most people can’t afford or safely pilot one.
If you think the classic sci-fi “in the future we’ll all be using flying cars and it’ll be awesome” thing is a good idea, just try to realistically imagine how crappy life would be for us all if you and every idiot you fight with in traffic every day had a helicopter.
You can’t drive a helicopter down the freeway. You can’t land one just anywhere.
You can’t with this car plane either, a runway that gives room for the wings and tail to extend AND to be out while moving forward up to speed or landing will be necessary.
The point is though it can travel on the ground to the airport.
So do cars and trains! They easily take people to the airport, where you can conveniently park your helicopter between uses.
That would be widely more practical though.
Not with that attitude!
Why would flying cars be easier to land anywhere than a helicopter is? This is exactly why flying cars are impractical.
you can’t land a helicopter just anywhere… so the solution to that is to “need a runway”. I fail to follow the logic
I just imagine people crashing their cars into roofs and stuff whether by accident or on purpose. Plus there are all the people who drive impaired or don’t maintain their vehicles.
Really don’t see it working unless there is also autopilot.
And helicopters are loud AF. If you think motorcycles are annoyingly noisy imagine peak hour with helicopters.
How is a helicopter remotely like a car? I agree though, that flying cars are a bad idea.
Definitions probably need to be made more clear.
We have cars for the land. We have boats in the water which are very much like cars for waterways. Then there are duck boats which are a hybrid that have never been anything more than a gimmick.
Flying is the same way. A small helicopter can be thought of like a car or boat, but for the air. They all fulfill similar things, just through water, land, or air.
To make the duck boat of the sky (the flying car), we’ll end up with the same issues as the duck boat. It won’t be particularly good at anything. It will be a bad car and a bad flying machine, which will leave it as a gimmick that makes even less sense than the duck boat. A good car/boat hybrid could eliminate the need for bridges in many cases. The dream of the flying car is mostly to avoid traffic, which could be improved with better infrastructure. If everyone was flying the way they think, it would be chaos. Flying cars are only cool when you’re the only one with the flying car.
Putting aside the different principles behind how they propel themselves through space, the basic concept of a helicopter and a car are quite similar.
All of that applies equally to aeroplanes and boats. I don’t see how a car is any more like a helicopter than e.g. a small aeroplane.
You’re using that point to call them different, I’d use that same point to call them all alike. Passenger vehicles are all fairly consistent in concept, and this is why no scifi “flying car” will be markedly different than giving every dope with a driver’s license their own helicopter.
The need for a runway stands out.
I would like to see a flying car try to take off without a runway.
maybe they are talking about the helicopters you can drive around in too. they don’t have big rotors on top, just basically a little fan in the front to cool the radiator when not in flight mode.
oh wait I’m thinking of a car
If they were driven by competent AI, it could be feasible with a slew of new safety regulations in specified areas of the country/world.
But we aren’t even there yet with cars. You could absolutely argue some companies are very close, though! 100% not Tesla at any stretch of the imagination, but others have been putting the work in for over a decade with advanced technologies and countless hours of testing.
The competency of the AI is key. Maybe we’ll be there in another generation or two, but I’m not inspired with much confidence while even the big celebrated AI models still work like crap and can’t be trusted with actual human safety.
Also, accidents will always happen no matter what. On a 2D road a crash can be very tragic, but the area of effect is way limited compared to an equivalent car crash happening in the air causing human and machine parts to rain down dangerously onto an entire neighborhood and the people in it. Even under some imaginary complete and flawless AI control, any airborne “road” will always be a hazard to whatever’s underneath it.