I still don’t understand how helicopters are not flying cars.
If you want everyone to have a flying car, we should talk about everyone having a helicopter first so we can quickly come to the conclusion of why that’s a bad idea.
You are 100% correct that helicopters and their issues are the exact reason why flying cars are a terrible idea for the general population. I even like to point them out as the same thing when people talk about flying cars. There are some technical differences between people’s image of a flying car, which is closer to a drone with the multiple lift producing drives than a singular giant spinning blade, although the little ones would be comparably dangerous in a crash.
That said, helicopters aren’t flying cars because you can’t drive them around on the ground.
The problem with a flying car for the general population is that people are already bad at navigating in 2D and that any technical failure in the air means a vehicle drops onto something and the average person is not going to do a proper checklist and rigid maintenance schedule on their private vehicle.
I would hope that by the time something like this launched to the general public, it would be a service rather than an expected purchase. Like self-driving-flying taxis.
It doesn’t make sense to have everyone owning their own when they will probably be largely autonomous to avoid issues with individuals driving them (not that everyone owning a car makes sense either, but I digress), so the maintenance shouldn’t be an issue either.
It’s like hover craft, sure they work, but at what cost? Bicycles, now there’s a design one can roll with. There was an HPV, The Gossamer Alabatross, crossed the English Channel in '79. Is anybody riding them now? Do you see similar HPVs anywhere now? No!
I still don’t understand how helicopters are not flying cars.
If you want everyone to have a flying car, we should talk about everyone having a helicopter first so we can quickly come to the conclusion of why that’s a bad idea.
hovercraft, too.
You are 100% correct that helicopters and their issues are the exact reason why flying cars are a terrible idea for the general population. I even like to point them out as the same thing when people talk about flying cars. There are some technical differences between people’s image of a flying car, which is closer to a drone with the multiple lift producing drives than a singular giant spinning blade, although the little ones would be comparably dangerous in a crash.
That said, helicopters aren’t flying cars because you can’t drive them around on the ground.
The problem with a flying car for the general population is that people are already bad at navigating in 2D and that any technical failure in the air means a vehicle drops onto something and the average person is not going to do a proper checklist and rigid maintenance schedule on their private vehicle.
I would hope that by the time something like this launched to the general public, it would be a service rather than an expected purchase. Like self-driving-flying taxis.
It doesn’t make sense to have everyone owning their own when they will probably be largely autonomous to avoid issues with individuals driving them (not that everyone owning a car makes sense either, but I digress), so the maintenance shouldn’t be an issue either.
That is one of the many problems, yes.
It’s like hover craft, sure they work, but at what cost? Bicycles, now there’s a design one can roll with. There was an HPV, The Gossamer Alabatross, crossed the English Channel in '79. Is anybody riding them now? Do you see similar HPVs anywhere now? No!
That’s because you can get vaccinated against HPV.
Ah, yes, I see, allow me to disambiguate: Human Powered Vehicle