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Will This Flying Car Get Crowdfunded?
cartechboy (2660665) writes "We all just have too much money on our hands, and we really want a flying car, right? Well that's what Skylys thinks, as it's trying to crowdfund a flying car. According to its website, 'In detail we aim to create an urban dual-mode, hybrid flight and electric drive motorized vehicle that fits into sustainable mobility.' How much money does it need? Oh about $3,111,075. Apparently the company has run out of money and needs more to 'start construction on our two prototypes to confirm our technical specifications; pay the chaps in the legal department; industrial engineers and take up occupancy of our future offices in Silicon Valley, where our backers can of course pay us a visit.'"
They had me until "paying the lawyers."
Perhaps if they posted about their product on well know tech blogs with links to contribute then maybe it will work.
I mean them Duke boys won't have enough breath left, it would be all "Yeeeeeeeee" and no "Haw"
And what then I ask you what. then.
I see way too many examples of people not understanding how to drive their car in 2D.
The idea of many of these same drivers being expected to navigate in 3D is terrifying.
There's a reason why getting a pilots license is much harder than getting a driving license. And the idiots I see around me talking on their phone, texting while driving, and weaving all over the place and making random lane changes ... these people in a flying car would be utterly dangerous.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It doesn't matter if it gets funded because it won't get built. If it flies, it's controlled by the FAA, and you'll be required to have a pilot's license to fly it. Not only that, but even if it has vertical take off you'll still have to take off from an airport or other helicopter pad or some other designated area. Your neighbours aren't going to stand for the sound of propellers spinning up every morning so you can fly off to work. And spinning props aren't very safe with kids and pets around. If you have to go to the airport and fly from there, and land at another airport, you might as well just drive to the airport, get in a real plane (rented most likely to save money), and then rent a car at your destination. There is simply no reason for a flying car to ever happen.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Are you saying this project can't get off the ground?
Table-ized A.I.
When the material sciences are to the point where a lightweight container can sustain Earth atmospheric pressure from crushing down on it, we'll have a practical way to take off vertically without prompting your neighbours to invest in surface to air missiles when you crank the engine on one of these in the morning on your daily commute.
government vehicles only with highly trained operators, so EMTs, Police, Firemen, etc.
Highly trained? Have you seen the way cops drive? They can't even be bothered to use turn signals.
We already have flying cars: they're called "helicopters". They're absurdly expensive to operate, even the small 2-seater models, they're absurdly difficult to operate and require an enormous amount of training, and they're extremely dangerous.
If you want a way to move people around faster, the answer is SkyTran.
Why does a small jet engine have to cost too much? A quick search of jet turbines for model aircraft shows that the 52lbs max thrust P200-SX from JetCat costs $5,495. Sure you would need 6 or 7 of these to get an average sized adult off the ground vertically with some minimal airframe, but we aren't talking about millions of dollars we are talking about something under $100k to put together some sort of ultralight VTOL.
I think the best flying car hope right now is actually in the small autonomous UAV space, but we need the FAA to start allowing more commercial development of UAVs in certain areas away from heavily populated areas.
All the other technical hurdles seem pretty manageable for at least moving us along the cost/performance curve to make small VTOL aircraft more affordable for more people.
I'll believe in this when the car flys.
Here in the Netherlands people do that all the time.
-- Cheers!
"sky lies" would be my guess....
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It"s about risks. It was a fair comparison.
Unlike your comparison, which is not.Near as I can tell, skylys ahs done nothing. Obama on the other hand has done a lot. Here is a short list of his accomplishments:
Legislative Prowess.
Despite the characterizations of some, Obama’s success rate in winning congressional votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7% for his first year in office. Though he is often cited as superior to Obama, President Lyndon Johnson’s success rate in 1965 was only 93%. http://n.pr/i3d7cY
Fiscal Responsibility.
Within days after taking office, Obama signed an Executive Order ordering an audit of government contracts, and combating waste and abuse. http://1.usa.gov/dUvbu5
Created the post of Chief Performance Officer, whose job it is to make operations more efficient to save the federal government money. http://n.pr/hcgBn1
On his first full day, he froze White House salaries. http://on.msnbc.com/ewJUIx
He appointed the first Federal Chief Information Officer to oversee federal IT spending. http://www.cio.gov/
He committed to phasing out unnecessary and outdated weapons systems, and also signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop waste, fraud and abuse in the defense procurement and contracting system. http://bit.ly/hOw1t1 http://bit.ly/fz8GAd
Through an executive order, he created the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. http://bit.ly/hwKhKa
Improving the Economy, Preventing Depression.
Obama pushed through and signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as “the stimulus package,” despite the fact that not one Republican voted for that bill. In addition, he launched recovery.gov, so that taxpayers could track spending from the Act. http://1.usa.gov/ibiFSs http://1.usa.gov/e3BJMk
In his first year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economy 3.5%. http://reut.rs/i46CEE
Obama completed the massive TARP financial and banking rescue plan, and recovered virtually all of its costs. http://1.usa.gov/eA5jVS http://bit.ly/eCNrD6
He created the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan. http://1.usa.gov/goy6zl
Obama oversaw the creation of more jobs in 2010 alone than Bush did in eight years. http://bit.ly/hrrnjY
He oversaw a bailout of General Motors that saved at least 1.4 million jobs, and put pressure on the company to change its practices, resulting in GM returning to its place as the top car company in the world. http://lat.ms/zIJuQx
Obama also doubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership which is designed to improve manufacturing efficiency. http://bit.ly/eYD4nf
He signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud in every corner of the financial system. It also created a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud that led to the economic meltdown. http://abcn.ws/g18Fe7
Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which was designed to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices. http://1.usa.gov/gIaNcS
He increased infrastructure spending after years
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No.
Helicopter are not flying cars. They are a vertical airlift vehicle. Can you drive one around on the free way? take off where ever you want? go to a 30th floor McDonalds drive through?
This is what people dream of when the want a flying car:
http://justacarguy.blogspot.co...
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If we had anti-gravity cars like those in "The Jetsons" then I think it'd be fine, we'd need some kind of virtual lane system with upwards/downwards corridors as a heads up display and an emergency parachute (space capsule style?) to save your ass but it'd work and you could stay to sane consumer speeds with high speed high altitude "interstates". Anything that depends on wings for lift though has to stay at very high speeds and can't practically stop for anything, even if you have a VTOL system hovering for even an extremely brief time will burn through your fuel in no time. If you think it's bad now, wait until slamming the brakes is not an option.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
5 year old girls want a pony with sparkles - or maybe a unicorn, but they can't have one. Commuters want a flying car but they can't have one either.
Aircraft fly by moving a lot of air downward in order to counteract gravity. If they move less air quickly the total power the need goes up (force goes as mass/second * velocity, power goes as mass/second * velocity SQUARED). So, in order to be efficient they need to have very big wings, or very big helicopter rotors, or very big low density volumes.
Look at all conventional aircraft, they have BIG wings. Those wings will not fit on roads. So if you want a flying car you are left with a clunky folding wing contraption that is a terrible car AND a terrible airplane. No matter how pretty the CGI or fiberglass mock-up design it just isn't going to work.
Sorry, but I just can't see the feasibility of flying cars unless they're entirely autonomous. Getting a pilot's license is difficult for good reason, and is also part of why flying is so safe. I can't see how well it would work to teach everyone how to fly given that.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
geekoid is Rick Hamell reposting his own list, you insensitive clod!
You didn't check any of those "free energy" campaigns did you? They're all actually scams.
The first one scammed $18k
The second one is only at 100 euros
The third one, which isn't anything more that a stone reached $1166
More like a helicopter than an aeroplane? Nope. Airplanes are MUCH easier to fly than a helicopter; the average person cannot do this.
More like a large manned quadcopter. They are stable, and with some computer control, easily flyable.
Flying cars? No. Never ever ever will the FAA allow such a thing.
They already do. You just must build it yourself as a kit. There are videos out there of driving helicopter with stowable rotors and other such "flying cars" that are 100% legal. Now, making it legal to sell as a full aircraft is something different. and 3.1 million dollars wouldn't get them past some introductory flights.
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I do that now. It's called a motorcycle. Just live some place where lane splitting is legal.
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