Is it me, or isn't this what we call just a "plane"? A very light-weight (maybe even cheap) plane.
There's another company trying to do these "flying cars" which approach seemed better. The one with several small fans, capable of vertical take-off. Can't recall their name. But unless I'm missing something... that's way closer to a "flying car" than this one.
Yeah I kind of think that visions of the future from 50 years ago envisioned flying cars being the result of a new kind of propulsion - not something akin to a small plane that has wings and requires a runway
Yup, pretty clearly just a plane that is designed to kind of look like a car. The fact that they're planning to sell as an EAB (experimental amateur built) is also basically a showstopper for any general adoption.
It’s a plane that is also road-legal. It may not match the scifi images evoked by the word “flying car” but it is a practical approach. This has been tried before and the previous attempts were not successful.
Have you ever considered why car ownership increases as countries are getting richer? like in China or India. Car isn't only status symbol, it allows people to move more easily. Public transport is nice but not enough. Car plays an important role, regardless of how negative it's being perceived on HN.
doubtful. Imagine if instead of everyone owning a car, we had bullet trains everywhere, and amazing public transport. Almost no traffic, much quicker intra- and inner-city commuting. Ugh. Cars, from an engineering and city planning perspective are super innefficient. Imagine all the housing, stores, and other economically beneficial things we could build instead of the hellscape of parking lots we have today.
Its always astounded me when there's so many problems with what I would describe as driving in 2 dimensions and now the maker of that wants to step it up to real 3D...
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 64.2 ms ] threadThere's another company trying to do these "flying cars" which approach seemed better. The one with several small fans, capable of vertical take-off. Can't recall their name. But unless I'm missing something... that's way closer to a "flying car" than this one.
Road rage taken to the sky
Have you ever considered why car ownership increases as countries are getting richer? like in China or India. Car isn't only status symbol, it allows people to move more easily. Public transport is nice but not enough. Car plays an important role, regardless of how negative it's being perceived on HN.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVironment_Switchblade
https://evtol.news/opener-blackfly-v3
The failure modes are reduced in this design, which is why I feel its more feasible as a mass-production design.
Compromises due to conflicting design and regulatory requirements seem destined to result in The Homer: https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer