You mean like a helicopter?
Comment on The flying car completes first ever inter-city flight (Official Video)
Geek_King@lemmy.world 10 months agoThe driving part isn’t as important as being able to take off vertically. Needing a runway makes it the worlds only airplane you can drive to the airpoint to take off with, not as convenient as the flying cars we’ve been promised.
ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
Geek_King@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Like a helicopter in terms of what it can do, but those things are real hard to fly. If we were ever to have flying cars, they’d need to be dead simple for the masses to cope with them. People can barely handle 2 dimensions, throw in an extra dimension and a good helping of speed…
mosiacmango@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Well, those are coming too.
They have flying prototypes and some key FAA approvals already.
QHC@lemmy.world 10 months ago
How is either a better or more affordable option than a cheap helicopter? Air taxis using helicopter have existed for decades and fly around urban areas every single day.
Will people still need a pilot’s license and all of the associated time + training that requires? Because they will surely also need to have a driver’s license and insurance and everything else required of owning a car!
I do not understand the appeal at all unless it’s just a refusal to give up on a very specific childhood nostalgia.
mosiacmango@lemm.ee 10 months ago
The idea is that this will be launching from landing pads on top of buildings and will be publically accessable via a small hanger area. The trips are supposed to be mostly automated, with a human pilot for safety.
It is supposed to be a lot cheaper, safer, and more accessible than helicopters, along with being way more of them available.
The appeal is another type of transit, for now. The design as i understand it can convert to “airplane” mode and fly for an hour or so at 200mph. I expect that id the air taxi service is safe and steady enough, these will be available for 200 mile flights without the irritation of standard air travel.