The flying car completes first ever inter-city flight (Official Video)

cyu@sh.itjust.worksbanned from community to Technology@lemmy.world – 73 points –
The flying car completes first ever inter-city flight (Official Video)
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How is a helicopter remotely like a car? I agree though, that flying cars are a bad idea.

Putting aside the different principles behind how they propel themselves through space, the basic concept of a helicopter and a car are quite similar.

  • It's a metal box with machinery, windows, and doors.
  • You open a door and get in at the start of your trip.
  • You sit at the controls, which you are required to undergo training to use properly and lawfully.
  • Other passengers can sit in the rest of the seats and come along with you on the trip.
  • You activate the machinery and make the box move where you want, maneuvering along paths and around obstacles.
  • At the end of the trip you stop the box in a safe place, switch off the machinery, and get out.

All of that applies equally to aeroplanes and boats. I don’t see how a car is any more like a helicopter than e.g. a small aeroplane.

You're using that point to call them different, I'd use that same point to call them all alike. Passenger vehicles are all fairly consistent in concept, and this is why no scifi "flying car" will be markedly different than giving every dope with a driver's license their own helicopter.

The need for a runway stands out.

I would like to see a flying car try to take off without a runway.

maybe they are talking about the helicopters you can drive around in too. they don't have big rotors on top, just basically a little fan in the front to cool the radiator when not in flight mode.

oh wait I'm thinking of a car

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