It’s not a flying car. It’s an airplane.
The World's First Mass-Produced Flying Car Is Here and It Costs $1 Million
Submitted 2 weeks ago by Quilotoa@lemmy.ca to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2 weeks ago
It’s by definition trying to merge two opposite specs into one vehicle using the worst aspects of the two.
NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Give me a intercity train or intercity tram any day.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an intercity tram before. They tend to be strictly local affairs. Probably because local governments have to lay the lines, and there would be some kind of giant argument if it went across jurisdictions.
wintermute@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
HakunaHafada@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
I feel like “mass-produced” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Also, insurance is going to be insane.
whereisk@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Also “car” - can my local mechanic service it and give it a flying certificate? If not, it’s not a car.
More like a barely road-worthy airplane.
Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You don’t get insurance on these
HakunaHafada@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
You’re right; I forget insurance is for the poor.
5too@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“The AirCar fulfills a lifelong dream to bring the freedom of flight into the hands of everyday people.”
The price? Between $800,000 and $1 million, depending on specs.
TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Don’t forget the cost and time investment in getting your pilots licence.
Also there is no way this is going to be legal to drive on public roads in most countries - just look at the massive tail boom that sticks out. This is just a fancy aircraft for people that want an overcomplicated Cessna.
CandleTiger@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
The tail boom is massive compared to a sports car but I think the folded-up package looks not bigger than a giant American SUV.
Speaking as one who routinely has trouble parking a motor home and driving over curbs with it — this big awkward-looking car does not compete with motor homes for the awkwardness prize.
HiTekRedNek@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
What’s crazy is you can build a kit plane for less than what this costs, and flying a kit plane does NOT need a pilot license in the US.
jqubed@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I couldn’t find specs skimming through the article, but it doesn’t look like it would fit in any normal parking space. Driving around might be as unwieldy as a motorhome or box truck, without the height advantage when you inevitably drive over a curb while turning. Doing that might also make it un-airworthy.
resipsaloquitur@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Do you see what happens, Larry?
Red_October@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The vehicle, certified for airworthiness and flight-tested over 170 hours with more than 500 takeoffs and landings, is now headed for mass production.
Jesus fuck please tell me that’s a typo and they left some zeros off. Your average commercial pilot has more than that before any airline is even willing to consider hiring them, that is absolutely not sufficient testing.
Still, early adopters may face bureaucratic turbulence. Potential buyers must be both licensed drivers and certified pilots.
No shit. And that is never going to change, becoming a certified pilot is a lot fuckin harder than getting a driver’s license, and for very good reasons. If some BMW-driving cunt can’t even be arsed to use his turn signal do you really want to ease the “bureaucratic turbulence” just so he can fuck up and crash into a packed airliner? These things still have to use runways, the people flying them still need to know how to behave themselves at airports, how to identify and avoid restricted airspace, how to communicate with ATC and how to behave if (let’s be honest, when) they get Intercepted.
And all of this so you can have a car that’s worse at being a car, and an airplane that’s worse at being an airplane, but hey at least you won’t have to book a rental car at your destination airport, which I remind you they still have to use.
ChillPenguin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As long as they’re only using smaller airports. Let the millionaires and billionaires have this. It’s like another ocean gate scenario.
I agree with everything you’re saying though haha.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The ocean depths arent above innocent people’s heads.
Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf 2 weeks ago
I still don’t get how these companies keep getting funded. There’s literally no way these things will ever become a thing. It’s simply ridiculous.
GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I’d be willing to bet if you put a calendar reminder in one year to check back on this you’d find that this car did not actually reach the mass-produced stage of industry.
Red_October@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Investors and venture capitalists fronting money and riding the Hype-Go-Round, but when the music stops and the lights go out someone’s going to be out a shitload of money.
Libra@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Yeah, I too once thought flying cars were the best idea since sliced bread. I’ve since grown up and realized that they’re just airplanes with extra steps, cause it’s not like you’re ever going to be able to land it on a highway or whatever. It will always be cheaper to just buy an airplane and a car and use one to get to the other.
cabbage@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I guess the problem is that if you take your car to the plane, then your plane somewhere else, suddenly you don't have your car. And then if you drive somewhere else you don't have your plane any more.
I think it's pretty obvious that rental cars and commercial flights make a lot more sense for most scenarios. But I guess it's possible to imagine scenarios where this vehicle makes sense, either for extensive round trips or for places where car rentals don't exist but the roads are nevertheless pretty good.
Libra@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Yeah I was gonna say, there’s a whole-ass rental car industry exactly for that kind of purpose. But this isn’t the sort of thing you buy because it ‘makes sense’, you buy it because it’s cool and you have fuck-you money so that’s enough of a reason.
druidjaidan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is more complicated than you think. The vast majority of airports in the US are tiny little things you would barely know are there unless you’re a pilot. Most don’t have rental car services. Many are in communities where even lyft/uber are not available.
The flying car thing is still pretty dumb. But it’s not as dumb as it might first sound. One of the #1 problems my family has when we fly our (very small, very old) plane on trips is how to get from the airport to anyplace reasonable.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s also that usual cars don’t fall down on someone’s head. And can just stay on one place for traffic jams.
Not possible until Star Wars style repulsors are created, and even then TBH not that cool.
vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
a plane. A flying car is called a plane.
Cort@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I bet it handles like a boat on the roads though.
nao@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
A plane that looks a bit like a car.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
So it’s a small plane then?
I swear I saw this on TV like 20 years ago, it’s a stupid idea, if I wanted a plane I would buy a plane and then drive to the airport in my car, attempting to combine the two technologies just makes both of them worse.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Or you could buy a Skyhawk, three Toyota Camrys and fuel for a year.
Montreal_Metro@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It’s called a plane.
Etterra@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
I don’t trust must drivers on roads, much less the air. No good will come of this.
kameecoding@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I am driving through a slight detour on my commute, it’s still 3 lanes but with a slight bend, motherfuckers can’t even keep their car in their fucking lane, almost hit 3 people this morning, fuckers can’t drive
j4yt33@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
A truly universal experience
Glifted@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
There are street legal autogyros that are a lot cheaper and make more sense as a crossover vehicle
altphoto@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
I hope its a popular buy among all our billionaires.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Damn, we really got flying cars before
- GTA 6
- Elder Scrolls 6
- Half Life 3 (but barely? Hopefully?)
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
It’s a Lamborghini with wings stuck on the sides, it’s not a flying car.
cy_narrator@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
We have had helicoptors for all these decades
Sugar_Spark@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Sweet. We need more ways for the 1% to kill themselves.
Telorand@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Okay I will admit it was impressive to see how they solved where to stow the wings and essentially shrink the airplane footprint to a long car footprint, but who is this for? Who out there has $1mil to blow and is like, “I have to drive directly from the tarmac to my hotel”?
This thing needs 300m of runway in its airplane form to get airborne, so forget city or even suburban takeoffs. And you’re not going to just drive this thing around. At the end of the day, this is still a (very fancy) plane that drives.
postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Just find the tallest rooftop parking structure with a low wall sturdy enough for a ramp.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If it can handle a grass field, those are everywhere. OTOH, be cheaper and easier to fly a Cessna and spatter cars around at your destinations.
Fleur_@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
Oh just like they did 5yrs ago every 5 years since the invention of powered flight
Valmond@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Seen this like 10 years ago lol
hakunawazo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
JoMiran@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
That’s not the “flying car” anyone envisioned or wanted. That’s just an airplane but a lot shittier.
Melonpoly@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What problem does this solve? And is that problem worth all the negatives this brings?
druidjaidan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The problem it solves is that most small airports are located miles away from the communities they serve. That isn’t an issue with a car, but it does suck when traveling.
Uber/Lyft have mostly solved this problem. However. There are plenty of small rural communities or small vacation destinations which are too rural to have taxis or uber/lyft.
Is it worth it? No. But it’s a legit problem
urquell@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
No
ABetterTomorrow@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
If wings don’t fold, fold your brain.
_stranger_@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No thank you, I’ll take a drone cab over this any day.
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’d rather have a FLDSMDFR. Sorry not sorry. People already drive like ass on the road. I don’t need that in the sky.
Widdershins@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think I’d like to have the full alphabet instead.
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Epzillon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Apart from all the discussion regarding how stupid this is, how the fuck would this even fit on a road? I doubt the wings would be durable enough if they were retractable. This shit would take up 2 lanes and fuck up any and all intersections. And as a added bonus, it would fuck with everyone elses perception who are used to the distances you keep away from regular vehicles when theyre turning in front of you. This shitheap wouldnt even make it to the airport because someone will probably misjudge the turn radius with the wings and fuck it up on the way there.
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
At Shanghai 2025 car show, there were at least 5 flying car models from major auto players.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I want to see these masses who can pay the million :)
tonyn@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
A million doesn’t get you what it used to, and you’d be shocked at how many quiet millionaires there are out there.
will_a113@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
There might be a lot more millionaires than before, but it’d still be a much smaller number who could drop $1M on a flying car.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
OK. Yes, then I want to get this shock :)
jonne@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
A million and get a pilot licence.
HK65@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I mean you can get a licence for 20-30k, the maintenance is deadly on a plane though, you could buy a very nice car each year on that money.