Re:Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously compl...
by bluGill on Wednesday February 12, 2020 @08:27AM
(#22308591)
Flying cars might or might not happen (see other discussions here). However they will never be more than a niche. Airplanes need far more safety space than cars. For a car you need a few dozen meters to the cars front and back, and less than 1 side to side. For airplanes it is thousands of meters in all directions, and you are limited as to height before you run out of atmosphere. So even thought planes run in 3d space, there is in practice less space for them than the few roads in a city.
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Re:Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously compl...
by xyproto on Wednesday February 12, 2020 @09:43AM
(#22309149)
Humans and bikes need even less safety space than cars.
I don't think safety space is a good criterion for predicting how widespread a means of transportation will become.
A fast mode of transportation, with a large safety space requirement, may be more efficient than other modes and/or become popular.
Re:Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously compl...
by bluGill on Wednesday February 12, 2020 @09:59AM
(#22309272)
The point is there isn't enough space for all the [single occupancy] cars to become airplanes. Speed doesn't change that because speed increases the space needed between airplanes.
Now if we change to flying buses we might be able to pull something off, an express bus that picks up people for a few stops in the suburb for 10 minutes, then flys at >150mph downtown is a very compelling competitor to a car and will get anybody who currently drives 20 to minutes downtown to ride if the cost is reasonable (those in closer in suburbs will still drive). I don't think the business or environmental models work out.