Maybe there is hope for flying cars in 2015 after all

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ad1x2

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#1 ad1x2
Member since 2005 • 8430 Posts

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Back in the late 80s Back to the Future 2 gave people hope that we would have flying cars in 2015. Almost 30 years later in 2014, it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

Introducing the Black Knight Transformer, a VTOL aircraft that can land and drive up to 70 miles per hour on the road:

It is in the test stage and planned military uses include transporting small teams, moving cargo, and small medevacs in areas where it isn't practical to fly a traditional aircraft.

Thoughts? Think they will be able to iron out the bugs or will this be another project that ends up not going anywhere?

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GazaAli

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#2 GazaAli
Member since 2007 • 25216 Posts

I don't know about using flying cars in general and this one in particular any time in the foreseeable future for urban transportation in the same way we've been using cars for decades. However, I think such a flying car can prove to be really handy for big retailers like Amazon to operate along the planned deployment of drones for home delivery. It will enable retailers to extend the packages they can deliver using air transportation and the weight they can handle.

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#3  Edited By k2theswiss
Member since 2007 • 16599 Posts

the problem I see is people not obeying laws in a open sky. now I think we should move all service vehicles one day over, fire trucks, police, ambulance, ect as it could reduce response times dramatically. Then branch off to bussiness as we all know trucks are highly important but they make a huge dent on the roads

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#4  Edited By LittleMac19
Member since 2009 • 1638 Posts

I think our world will be more similar to the world portrayed in I robot by 2030s

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LostProphetFLCL

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#5 LostProphetFLCL
Member since 2006 • 18526 Posts

The idea of flying cars for civilian use is one of the most psychotically un-feasible ideas around.

-Do we expect everyone to essentially learn how to fly a plane?

-On a similar note, planes are flown by multiple pilots for safety reasons. People aren't going to be wanting to have to have a second driver though especially considering a vast amount of time the driver will be the only person in the car. If you have just one driver though then what happens if something goes wrong with said driver? You get a ton of metal falling to the ground.

-What about the fact that cars break down? It's bad enough having something break down on your car when you are driving. Throw your being in the AIR when your car potentially stalls out and you have a recipe for disaster.

-What about accidents as well? People aren't going to suddenly stop hitting each other because their cars are flying. Lets just have car accidents happen in the air so we can have two huge hunks of metal come crashing down to earth!

Cars are dangerous enough without flying. I seriously never want to see someone try and put out a flying car on the market. Tis just a stupid, stupid idea....

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#6 Master_Live
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@LostProphetFLCL said:

The idea of flying cars for civilian use is one of the most psychotically un-feasible ideas around.

-Do we expect everyone to essentially learn how to fly a plane?

-On a similar note, planes are flown by multiple pilots for safety reasons. People aren't going to be wanting to have to have a second driver though especially considering a vast amount of time the driver will be the only person in the car. If you have just one driver though then what happens if something goes wrong with said driver? You get a ton of metal falling to the ground.

-What about the fact that cars break down? It's bad enough having something break down on your car when you are driving. Throw your being in the AIR when your car potentially stalls out and you have a recipe for disaster.

-What about accidents as well? People aren't going to suddenly stop hitting each other because their cars are flying. Lets just have car accidents happen in the air so we can have two huge hunks of metal come crashing down to earth!

Cars are dangerous enough without flying. I seriously never want to see someone try and put out a flying car on the market. Tis just a stupid, stupid idea....

Stop killing the dream!

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ad1x2

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#7 ad1x2
Member since 2005 • 8430 Posts

@LostProphetFLCL: In all reality, when I look at Back to the Future I realize that it was made with a pre-9/11 thought process. After 9/11, even if we had the technology to make flying cars the government wouldn't allow it for the simple fact that they could be used as airborne IEDs by suicide bombers. That probably concerns most governments more than the points you posted.

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#8  Edited By foxhound_fox
Member since 2005 • 98532 Posts

Unless they are auto-piloted I wouldn't want the general public getting it's hands on a flying car. They can barely drive regular cars ffs.

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#9  Edited By one_plum
Member since 2009 • 6816 Posts

Pigs will fly before cars.

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#10 MrGeezer
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@foxhound_fox said:

Unless they are auto-piloted I wouldn't want the general public getting it's hands on a flying car. They can barely drive regular cars ffs.

Even if they were completely automated, there's still the issue of maintenance. Planes have a shitload of maintenance done on them to ensure that they're actually safe to fly, the same would have to be done for "flying cars". And how could that be practical? Who's gonna be performing the inspections and whatnot? Once these are available to the general public and cheap enough to become common, there's no way to make sure that every owner is actually keeping up with the required maintenance.

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#11 V3rciS
Member since 2011 • 2241 Posts

Well if you want flying cars then we need to find alternative methods of propulsion... the chopper thing ain't gonna work... and the passenger aircraft's turbines won't do as well. It might take a couple of years up to a couple of decades till we have fully operational commercial flying car.

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#12 foxhound_fox
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@MrGeezer said:

@foxhound_fox said:

Unless they are auto-piloted I wouldn't want the general public getting it's hands on a flying car. They can barely drive regular cars ffs.

Even if they were completely automated, there's still the issue of maintenance. Planes have a shitload of maintenance done on them to ensure that they're actually safe to fly, the same would have to be done for "flying cars". And how could that be practical? Who's gonna be performing the inspections and whatnot? Once these are available to the general public and cheap enough to become common, there's no way to make sure that every owner is actually keeping up with the required maintenance.

That's another thing, pilots don't maintain their aircraft. There are crews of 10-20 people than maintain big airlines planes in ALL the major cities the planes stop in at. That's possibly hundreds of people looking over every inch of the aircraft in a few days period.

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Master_Live

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#13 Master_Live
Member since 2004 • 20510 Posts

@foxhound_fox said:

@MrGeezer said:

@foxhound_fox said:

Unless they are auto-piloted I wouldn't want the general public getting it's hands on a flying car. They can barely drive regular cars ffs.

Even if they were completely automated, there's still the issue of maintenance. Planes have a shitload of maintenance done on them to ensure that they're actually safe to fly, the same would have to be done for "flying cars". And how could that be practical? Who's gonna be performing the inspections and whatnot? Once these are available to the general public and cheap enough to become common, there's no way to make sure that every owner is actually keeping up with the required maintenance.

That's another thing, pilots don't maintain their aircraft. There are crews of 10-20 people than maintain big airlines planes in ALL the major cities the planes stop in at. That's possibly hundreds of people looking over every inch of the aircraft in a few days period.

So those who can afford a flying car will have a flying car.

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#14  Edited By MrGeezer
Member since 2002 • 59765 Posts

@Master_Live said:

So those who can afford a flying car will have a flying car.

I'm not doubting that some people will eventually have them, I'm just saying that they're never going to be particularly common. Some people own their own private airplanes too, but that's always going to be out of reach of "the common person."

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#15  Edited By Master_Live
Member since 2004 • 20510 Posts

I will wait for the Google Flying Car T Model. *crosses fingers*

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#16  Edited By Serraph105
Member since 2007 • 36038 Posts

been there done that.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/9182040/Dutch-inventors-build-flying-car.html

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#17  Edited By 4myAmuzumament
Member since 2013 • 1791 Posts

would the government control the airways if this happens?

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#18  Edited By gamerguru100
Member since 2009 • 12718 Posts

@LostProphetFLCL said:

The idea of flying cars for civilian use is one of the most psychotically un-feasible ideas around.

-Do we expect everyone to essentially learn how to fly a plane?

-On a similar note, planes are flown by multiple pilots for safety reasons. People aren't going to be wanting to have to have a second driver though especially considering a vast amount of time the driver will be the only person in the car. If you have just one driver though then what happens if something goes wrong with said driver? You get a ton of metal falling to the ground.

-What about the fact that cars break down? It's bad enough having something break down on your car when you are driving. Throw your being in the AIR when your car potentially stalls out and you have a recipe for disaster.

-What about accidents as well? People aren't going to suddenly stop hitting each other because their cars are flying. Lets just have car accidents happen in the air so we can have two huge hunks of metal come crashing down to earth!

Cars are dangerous enough without flying. I seriously never want to see someone try and put out a flying car on the market. Tis just a stupid, stupid idea....

I agree. Not to mention just imagining how much of a clusterfuck traffic would be.

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#19  Edited By branketra
Member since 2006 • 51726 Posts

It has got to land safely.