Singapore Wants To Test Flying Taxi Drones (nypost.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Commuters in Singapore might soon be able to ride a flying taxi home at the end of the day," writes the New York Post. "The country's Minister of Transport is in negotiations with tech companies to start trials on taxi drones that can pick up passengers, says a story by Singapore's Business Times. The driverless pods, which resemble the speeding hover bikes in Return of the Jedi, would stop for passengers based on an 'e-hail' similar to what Uber uses, the report says." Flying taxis have already been prototyped, including the Hoversurf Scorpion and the Volocopter VC200, while Dubai plans to begin testing Ehang 184 self-driving flying taxi drones in July.

Though Singapore is a small country with a relatively small workforce, the head of their ministry of transportation "noted the availability and affordability of data and the rise of artificial intelligence are already upending the transport sector globally," reports the Singapore Business Times. To that end, Singapore is also considering on-demand buses that optimize their routes, but also driverless buses. "It has signed a partnership agreement with a party to build and put such buses through a trial, and will be signing another agreement quite soon."

Comments

Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[stealth_finger]

I'm sure nothing can possible go wrong.

Re:Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[Errol backfiring]

Looking at the picture, that was exactly my idea.

If the power fails, I don't think these fixed propellers used for the lift are going into autorotation. But luckily, that does not matter, as the stability will be gone as well. But hey, if you survived the blades while getting into the aircraft, you probably won't mind a bit of excitement...

In short, this does not look like anything that could ever get an approval from the aviation authorities

Re: Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[DirkDaring]

How often does that happen with planes? Helicopters?

Re: Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[amalcolm]

Are taxis subject to the same scutiny of aicraft? Do you think these air-taxis will be, given the requirement to make a profit? How many helicopter flights take place in built up areas?

Re: Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[stealth_finger]

Where does this dumb "nothing can go wrong" sort of sarcasm come from?

Of course things could go wrong. Nobody is suggesting that they won't! But there is the potential for some big gains by trying out these ideas in practice.

That's how we make progress: we think of an idea, try it out, and deal with the consequences, regardless of whether they are good or bad.

This smug liberal "things could go wrong" snark is truly idiotic. Yes, we know that there may be undesired outcomes. That's the price of innovation, and it's taken into account when engineering this kind of technology.

Way to miss the point with your faux outrage. Here's an idea. Let's get the flying car to a point where it's not a death trap pipe dream, then we'll think about making them into taxis, yeah? We can't even rely on self driving cars on the ground now you want to send them skyward willy nilly, with people in them no less. Show me where I said let's not do it, go on I'll wait. If anything I'm saying they've missed a few steps.

Re: Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[JonnyCalcutta]

Also, what the fuck has it to do with 'liberals'? Is danger now a selling point of 'not being a liberal'?

"Roll up, roll up. See the death defying conservatives as they soar through the sky on their gossamer wings"

Re:Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[newbie_fantod]

Can't plant them any other way either.

Re: Sounds like a brilliant plan.

[newbie_fantod]

It doesn't happen often with planes and helicopters because they are meticulously and rigorously maintained and inspected, worked on by highly qualified mechanics who are also rigorously inspected, and flown by people who undertake years of training before they are allowed to professionally transport passengers.

If they have extra people there

[Blinkin1200]

and can afford to loose a few, they should go for it!

Re: If they have extra people there

[stealth_finger]

Actually Singapore, like many developed country, has a birth shortage, and the government is paying people to have kids (but most still don't to have it).

They can buy mine if they want. Who do I call?

Sounds like a great idea

[DrXym]

Now all they have to do is invent these amazing hover pods capable of carrying people, develop the software able to land, take off, navigate them autonomously (including not crashing into each other, wires, buildings, signage etc.), find some idiots willing to be guinea pigs to ride in them, and finally erect a 100m tall flashing sign that says VAINGLORY on one side and HUBRIS on the other.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[Baron_Yam]

The 'hoverpods' exist, they're scaled up quadrocopters. As you might expect, they're horribly fuel-inefficient, so you're going to need a lot of fuel depots (electric isn't going to cut it for a human-scale device).

The software to navigate and avoid obstacles exists... but you're still going to need safe places to navigate TO.

And you're going to have to carry a ballistic chute with it (more mass to waste more fuel) for low-altitude deployment in event of emergency.

And you're going to have to carry shells and screens to encase the rotors so nobody gets shredded. Ducting increases efficiency, screens reduce it. The mass is also more weight to carry.

We absolutely should not be doing this, just on the fuel requirements alone.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[Oswald McWeany]

Now all they have to do is invent these amazing hover pods capable of carrying people, develop the software able to land, take off, navigate them autonomously

Meanwhile, here in the 21st century we have invented drones, we have invented self-driving cars (Tesla does it today, and on the road is actually more of a challenge than in the skies... even Amazon is already testing systems for that.

The main challenges are: making sure these devices are not a public nuisance (sound etc) and is there a viable business case for using them. (if they cost more to operate than you can make money from them).

It's not a matter of "inventing" them, it's a matter of- is there a viable reason to make them. That is the real challenge, a large, already noisy city like Singapore probably has more of a chance of this taking off than some rural cotton trading town.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[DrXym]

I'm not aware of any drones capable of autonomously navigating the sort of enclosed spaces and avoiding hazards that a typical city would contain. Wires would be especially perilous but also seagulls, flying debris (paper / plastic / leaves), wind gusts around tall buildings, rain, trees, festival decorations etc.

And self drive vehicles are nowhere close to Johnny Cab levels of automation. Even the most advanced of them screw up and require human interventions either because they get stuck, do something dumb or put the car / passengers at risk. Tesla's self drive is especially limited and is basically just a glorified lane tracking system that requires human oversight. Even there we've seen what can happen when the system goes catastrophically wrong.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[houghi]

Tesla does it today

No, they don't. It is assited driving, not self driving. Yes, it is called an auto-pilot in reference to an auto-pilot in an airplane where a busdriver with a lot of extra schooling is aware of what it can and can't do.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[Oswald McWeany]

Tesla does it today

No, they don't. It is assited driving, not self driving. Yes, it is called an auto-pilot in reference to an auto-pilot in an airplane where a busdriver with a lot of extra schooling is aware of what it can and can't do.

You need your hand on the steering wheel, and for legal reasons they say it's not fully autonomous, but it basically is, if a rudimentary one.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[houghi]

Tell that to the people who died.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[JonnyCalcutta]

I have also constructed a self driving car with a brick, some rope and three nodding birds.

Re:Sounds like a great idea

[Oswald McWeany]

I have also constructed a self driving car with a brick, some rope and three nodding birds.

Ah! Sounds like you work for Fiat.

Finally! Flying cars!

[rmdingler]

FTW (From the Wiki) Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub. Its standings include: the most "technology-ready" nation (WEF), top International-meetings city (UIA), city with "best investment potential" (BERI), second-most competitive country, third-largest foreign exchange market, third-largest financial centre, third-largest oil refining and trading centre, and the second-busiest container port. The country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index, and 3rd highest per capita income. It is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied. 38% of Singapore's 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four official languages on the island: Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. English is its common language; most Singaporeans are bilingual.

Not exactly backwoods, and if you've been paying attention, many of the powerful Western nations are busy with political and religious infighting. It may indeed be an Asian-dominated 22nd Century.

Re:Finally! Flying cars!

[Ol Olsoc]

That's wonderful. I don't know that the technology ready people of Singapore makes this a slam dunk for success though.

And this is hardly cutting edge anyhow. People are building their own person carrying drones in their backyards. The problem isn't technology.

One of the first thoughts that came to mind is that given the terrible inefficiency of drones, what happens when there is a big backup. A lot of people heading to one place. Hover time will suck up battery power, so unless we accept crashes as part of the price of this technology, these things are going to have to land someplace that isn't the place where the people want to go.

As well, imagine the ground conditions underneath 50 of these things in hover mode. The same thing can happen if they mandate droneport platforms on every building.

I don't see the technology of building the drones as a big deal at all, other than being willing to put up with the heavy power demands of the things. There can be a scale on the drone that calculates the weight of the passengers and their packages, and disables the flight if there is too much weight for the length of the trip. That must be taken into account. As well, drone breakdowns are inherently different than a ground based vehicle. That Taxi pulls over to the side of the road, and you have some pissed off passengers. The drone augers into the road, and the passengers might not fare quite so well.

The biggest problem is that this is a really bad solution to a city human transport problem.

This inevitably leads to

[Verdatum]

Korben Dallas getting into a crazy flying car chase, getting him one more point on his license, thus getting him fired, thus getting him free lunch!

Cool!

[SCVonSteroids]

What's the worst that can happen!

will the software pass a FAA code audit?

[Joe_Dragon]

will the software pass a FAA code audit?

Itchy and Scratchy Land. The amusement park of th

[Joe_Dragon]

Itchy and Scratchy Land. The amusement park of the future where nothing can possibly go wrong.

I'm sure heads will roll...

[kimgkimg]

... literally.

Why a coptor?

[mike.mondy]

If you're airborne ... and if there's no issues with a need for traffic control, the routes are going to be point to point and without any delays. Perhaps mostly between office buildings and apartments and other multi-person destinations.

Why go with the complexity, maintenance requirements, dangers, and expenses of helicopter technology? I'm guessing a relatively slower lighter than air craft would meet the needs too. Not that I think either is going to happen very soon...

Drone Taxis:

[qeveren]

All the original-flavoured human error, none of the annoying self-preservation instinct!

the man

[fluffernutter]

Gee I sure hope this isn't regulated either!