I wished I had $300,000 to pre-order Alef Flying Car.
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Wow we can pre-order a flying car!
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At this point, that would be a terrible purchase. It is an endless money pit. There is a reason why the website is so vague and doesn't mention production etc. There is no way I would pre-order that vehicle.
Aside from the terrible deal, I've yet to hear anyone fully address some practical issues.
Advocates for flying cars seem to automatically assume that to drive the car you'd need a pilot's license. That point has either been badly miscommunicated to the public or conveniently overlooked. Yet these advocates seem surprised when questioned about it.
If the public is correct and the issue of a pilot's license is not a requirement then I have other questions…
We already have drunk/drugged drivers. What happens when these people get into a car that flies? Who is doing a traffic stop on a flying car with a drunk driver?
Road rage in the air? Accidents in the air? People drive like idiots now and we want to add a third dimension to this?
Oh maybe insurance will price people out?! I doubt it, we have uninsured drivers now. Who's paying when there is a fender bender and both cars fall out of the sky?
AFAIK no one is asking questions.
I'd assume these guys.
But when it comes down to it. Flying cars would have to be completely automated. There's no way the US or any air traffic control system could handle millions of vehicles flying around every which way. You'd need a system where all vehicles communicate with each other and ground management systems. With no option from the driver to override. Aside from inputting a new destination into the autopilot.
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I wished I had $300,000 to pre-order Alef Flying Car.
Amazing that I find myself alive at the cusp of Pat Cadigan's "GridLid", only to find that a group of guys are already attempting to rectify what Glenn Curtiss, or the Waterman Whatsit, could not do.
As Tom Meisfjord wrote in 2020:
"In the end, it wasn't crackpot futurism or a lack of available technology that killed the flying car. It was just that nobody bought them. When a market failed to develop, the companies designing the things went under."
Hopefully not an inherently inevitable outcome, but I'm not holding my breath.
Alas, I don't see being able to ever avail myself of such a market item.
I was kinda hoping for a Niven transport booth (or Hamilton wormhole), first
Exactly. And it's this concept that has never been properly communicated to the American public. You'd be telling people that they can have the flying car - but they can't drive/fly it themselves. After all the decades of dreaming they'd be able to get a flying car and just go anywhere they want/when they want.
That idea does NOT sell flying cars.
A technology that will never be a thing. Not due to the fact that a flying car is not possible (it certainly is), but due to infrastructure and safety.
Another factor, whether fan- or jet-powered, that no one addresses is Noise. You know how loud a single helicopter is, flying overhead; now multiply that by a city full of commuters, and...
And before we know it we'll go from traffic, to air jams.
Like the ones in the movie, "Blade Runner"?
In reality flying cars would be a great idea, specially in traffic congested cities. Transport, commercial, construction, and other heavy vehicles could used the existing roads, and new roads would not be needed.
A valid point indeed. Now, I’m old enough to recall Blue Thunder having a "switch" at the controls to initiate whisper mode. Come to think of it Airwolf might also have had this option fitted?
So in summary, some of those switches from the 80s should at least solve that particular problem.
Edit: a noise canceling feature of sorts even?
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There was a top-secret Air Force project that did just that, a dual-rotor helicopter wherein the rear rotor rotated the opposite direction, pushing air up instead of down. The 'copter spun around so violently the pilot got dizzy, threw up and crashed. The project was abandoned soon after. [/bullsh*tmode]
The Tu-95 Bear (Russian recon aircraft) has four counter-rotating props. The engine works and is proven. But the aircraft is LOUD!There was a top-secret Air Force project that did just that, a dual-rotor helicopter wherein the rear rotor rotated the opposite direction, pushing air up instead of down. The 'copter spun around so violently the pilot got dizzy, threw up and crashed. The project was abandoned soon after. [/bullsh*tmode]
There was a top-secret Air Force project that did just that, a dual-rotor helicopter wherein the rear rotor rotated the opposite direction, pushing air up instead of down. The 'copter spun around so violently the pilot got dizzy, threw up and crashed. The project was abandoned soon after. [/bullsh*tmode]
The Avrocar was another interesting experiment, from the 1960s:
Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar - Wikipedia
It’s bad enough with the noise from drones and planes. Plus flying is never going to be as fuel efficient as driving.
So do me it’s a hard no. We’ve messed the planet up enough as it is.
So do me it’s a hard no. We’ve messed the planet up enough as it is.
Exactly not only would they hurt the other air drivers, cars could fall on or in front of ground drivers. Imagine driving down the highway and a car falls out of the sky.
Why limiting ourselves to the idea that a flying car of the far future would have an internal combustion engine, or even electrical motors with propellers? Why not "imagining" that such a car would be much like one of the small vehicles shown in futuristic movies such as Star Trek, Blade Runner, and so forth? Well, a helicopter-looking vehicle like the one piloted by Tom Cruise in the movie, "Oblivion" would be perfect for me maybe 400 years from now
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Yes puts this quote from the website into context as wishful thinking.
Ummm no. I love retrofutrism as much as the next nerd but a lot of what was thought up was not practical but replaced by items that were better suited to the tasks they were meant for, ie. specialized rather than humanoid robots.