Slashdot Mirror
A Production-Ready Flying Car Is Coming This Month
cartechboy writes It's 2014. Where the heck are our flying cars? We were promised flying cars. We should be living like The Jetsons, right? Well, we aren't, but we are about to take one step closer: a production-ready flying car is debuting this month. Slovakia's Aeromobil is planning to unveil its "Flying Roadster" at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna, Austria on October 29. The latest iteration is called the Aeromobil 3.0, and work on it dates back to 1990. The Aeromobil 2.5 prototype made its first flight about a year ago. The Aeromobil transforms from plane to car by folding its wings behind the cockpit. Supposedly, the Aerobmoil will fit in a standard parking spot and run on pump gas. In less than a month, our dreams could become a reality.
Bet you'll not see this in the US any time soon. I wonder what its crash test ratings would look like.
In case you don't drive much, its already too scary with cars on the ground. Can you imagine some of these idiots flying around? The horrendous crashes? Care to think about what it would be like when someone careens into the top floor of an office building and explodes into a fireball? Thankfully flying tech has not progressed to reality.
A car with wings, saw a Bond villain make off with one in 1975. Been there, done that.
You can drive with a bent fender, but if you bend an aircraft it is instantly grounded until repaired, this may entail x-raying the superstructure etc. So a small bingle in a flying car means it instantly becomes just a car until repaired and approved for flight. Personally I cant see flying cars becoming a reality any time soon.
Sure, it does both both things.
Just not as good as individual tools it replaces.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
This isn't so much of a flying car as it is a drivable plane.
This concept is just "roadable aircraft" - basically light planes you drive to and from an airport. And even if the FAA allowed you to takeoff and land on roads, that would be totally impractical since the roads aren't designed for it. Nor would it be safe for human pilots to land in and takeoff from other traffic. So we'll need (1)robocars, (2)redesign of the roads to allow takeoff and landing in some parts, (3)a radical overhaul of the regulatory and air traffic control system to accommodate a drastic expansion in low-altitude air travel directly over cities, and (4)changes to the licensing process for both aircraft and ground cars so that drivers/pilots can deal with the intersection of the two modes. I don't see much motivation for such a radical change, so it'll have to happen excruciatingly slowly.
Bet you'll not see this in the US any time soon. I wonder what its crash test ratings would look like.
It could be licensed like an experimental aircraft.
But... "I'll believe it when I see it."
Folks, we have heard this before, and "flying cars" have been around since the 50's. It's not practical in any sense of the word. Blade Runner is a fantasy that will not be realized for many, many years. It this point in time, "flying cars" solve no problems and create man oth
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
A Production-Ready Flying Car Is Coming This Month
No.
Slovakia's Aeromobil has planning to unveil its "Flying Roadster" at the Pioneers Festival in Vianna, Austria on October 29.
They will unvailed a prototype .
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
That it is "production-ready" doesn't necessarily mean it's being produced.
Except for the fact this car has the performance characteristics not of a private jet, but of a $40,000 used Cessna with half the seats removed and rocks in one of the fuel tanks. Anybody who can afford this can afford a comparable fixed-wing aircraft easily.
Googling on 'site:slashdot.org "flying car"' turns up numerous references to flying cars, ALL in very advanced stages of development and ready for production, flying your way soon.
Terrafugia... "Flying Car Passes First Flight Test..."
PAL-V One, "Finally, a flying car for the masses" made its first maiden flight...
M400 flying car "more economical than SUV"...
"the SkyCar, an invention by Moller International" was to be "Ready by end of year." And that year was 1999.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Helicopter-like flight is the right idea, but I think it's a power and propulsion problem. Helicopters are hideously mechanical and have maintenance schedules that would scare even a Ferrari owner.
I think you do need helicopter-like flight -- vertical takeoff and landing, forward and backward flight, side-side flight, etc. No flying car concept would seem to work without these. If you could get this in some kind of package that would work on a car the size of a full-size sedan, you'd only need the advanced aviononics that let you program in a desintation it will fly you to, avoiding all hazards.
Maybe they could have some kind of guided manual mode where you could fly it wherever you wanted but a set of safety and guidance systems kept it from crashing into objects or other cars (probably with active coordination with other cars) as well as obeying specific flight rules (height, speed, etc). Something like the go carts at an amusement park where you can "drive" within a set of constraints but without the restriction of a fixed course.
But the guidance and safety seem trivial next to the propulsion system that gives you six degrees of freedom in the size of a sedan.
If it's not produced, then technically it isn't "coming".
OK. It's not "coming" ...but it's breathing really fast.
Flying Car for Sale
Something like this?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Lots of things are against the law and yet people still murder, rape, kidnap, steal, etc., etc. What makes you think some idiot will follow a law that says they can't fly their flying car if it has a bit of a bend? I followed some jerk whose brake lights didn't work last week. I'm sure that's illegal, too.
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
And those of us born long before then have seen the 1949 Aerocar, which every keeps reinventing, badly.
Flying cars. From Wiki:
Although the estimated number of General Lees used varies from different sources, according to Ben Jones ("Cooter" in the show), as well as builders involved with the show, 256 General Lees were used to film the series. Others claim about 321 were used in the series. Approximately 17 still exist in various states of repair. On average, more than one General Lee was used up per show. When filming a jump, anywhere from 500 to 1,000 pounds (230 to 450 kg) of sand bags or concrete ballast was placed in the trunk to prevent the car from nosing over. Later in the series the mechanics would raise the front end of the car to keep it from scraping against the ramp causing it to lose speed, thereby providing a cushion for the driver upon landing. Stunt drivers report enjoying the flights but hating the landings. Despite the ballast, the landing attitude of the car was somewhat unpredictable, resulting in moderate to extremely violent forces, depending on how it landed. On many of the jumps the cars bent upon impact. All cars used in large jumps were immediately retired due to structural damage.
As long as humans control the flying cars, they will never become a reality; and thankfully so. Most people who have licences to drive shouldn't have them, but at least when they prove their incompetence in piloting their car the damage is somewhat limited (compared to a Cesna falling out of the sky). I'm all for flying hovercraft cars, but only as long as ONLY ME gets one. The rest of the idiots I meet on my bike ride home shouldn't be allowed to drive in two dimensions, much less three.
More seriously, the only way we should (will) allow flying anything is when proven computers control the piloting. We're still 10 to 20+ years away from accepting computers controlling our cars (it's a matter of personal freedom!) so add on a few more years to extend it to the 3rd dimension.
And seriously, stop driving like a f*cking tool. Failure to signal should be a capital offence, it goes up from there.
if I could ride somewhere in this thing, get out of it and have it fly off and park itself elsewhere, then fine.
Exactly.
Flying cars need to be fully robotic to catch on. If they can be safely used by a child or a drunk, and they can navigate by themselves to pick people up, drop them off, and park somewhere, then their advantages over ground cars become compelling.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Somehow it sounds cool to have a flying car, but kinda stupid to have a driving plane. This was an observation made by Tyler Cowen on his blog. It's a good point. It reminds me of a survey of priests that emphatically showed priests are ok with praying while smoking, but not with smoking while praying.
125km/h is much slower than the TGV. The British Intercity trains can run at 125 miles per hour, which is 60% faster than that. Even our crappy commuter trains have a cruising speed of around 120km/h (at least, that's what my phone's GPS told me last time I was on one). The TGV held the record for the fastest average speed for a conventionally scheduled train in 2007, at 280km/h (which would have managed the grandparent's journey in just under 2 hours).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I wish they'd stop calling roadable aircraft "flying cars".
Flying car: Something that allows you to take off from your home and fly directly to your destination.
Roadable aircraft: An aircraft that you can drive to and from local airports.
It's good for people who already fly light aircraft (no more worrying about transport once you fly to your destination), useless for the rest of us.