how long before we're all flying cars?

DavidMarq · 20 Dec 2009 at 08:40

Pea0n said:
This. Most of the road bearing population can hardly manage something that moves in 2D, let alone the additional spacial awareness required to move something along 3 axis

- Pea0n

All the vehicles I have ever owned have been capable of going up and down hills and of achieving velocities of greater than 0 m/s. 4 dimensions being the minimum requirement for me to get to work. :confused:

neodude · 20 Dec 2009 at 08:53

Hopefully after I retire!

Johnny Girth · 20 Dec 2009 at 09:02

DavidMarq said:
All the vehicles I have ever owned have been capable of going up and down hills and of achieving velocities of greater than 0 m/s. 4 dimensions being the minimum requirement for me to get to work.

Cars have a habit of moving in the same vertical direction as the road
- all by themselves. On autopilot really. Which is nice.

DavidMarq · 20 Dec 2009 at 09:10

Johnny Girth said:
Cars have a habit of moving in the same vertical direction as the road
- all by themselves. On autopilot really. Which is nice.

I have often found it necessary to make use of the accelerator, clutch and gearbox to account for the car having to do more or less work against mavity.

But perhaps that is just me?

Ziggy · 20 Dec 2009 at 09:27

how long before we're all flying cars?

Never - we aren't Transformers.

Sin_Chase · 20 Dec 2009 at 11:19

Technically if big investment happened for mass adoption no reason it would not be happening now.

It will not happen, not from a technical standpoint, but from a 'health and safety' point of view. If you wanted to introduce cars of yesteryear (when they were first introduced) today, even that would not happen.

Flying cars, with today's tech? No chance. Maybe when we have the ability to use something other than jet/prop thrust for propulsion and hovering.

gillywibble · 20 Dec 2009 at 12:01

'Get the hell out of the sky!'

Nymins · 20 Dec 2009 at 12:45

Deific said:
people probably said the same thing when coming from horse and cart to cars, and look where we are.

I think hovering cars is a certainty, but thats what they will be - hovering cars. We'll never be released with free roaming flying vehicles. By the time hover cars do come into place, there will be no possibility of them being able to leave certain routes/tracks, if any manual control is even given to the occupant.

Why would we need hover cars though? There isn't any viable reason that i can think off that would benefit having them over a car with 4 wheels.

GhostlyPea · 20 Dec 2009 at 13:19

DavidMarq said:
All the vehicles I have ever owned have been capable of going up and down hills and of achieving velocities of greater than 0 m/s. 4 dimensions being the minimum requirement for me to get to work.

What are you talking about....don't try and be facetious you know exactly what I meant.

- Pea0n

markweatherill · 20 Dec 2009 at 13:22

Only on the moon colony.

DavidMarq · 20 Dec 2009 at 21:01

Pea0n said:
What are you talking about....don't try and be facetious you know exactly what I meant.

- Pea0n

You seemed to be making a sweeping generalisation that I doubt very much that you can substantiate, but feel free to try. The ignorance manifest in your terminology was just icing on the cake.

You seem very touchy about my response, which was not intended to be humorous in a deliberately inappropriate way, but was designed more to educate in terms that you could easily understand.

Werewolf · 20 Dec 2009 at 21:37

Jokester said:
The thought of Joe Public being unleashed in flying vehicles fills me with dread.

That.

I suspect it'll be a very long time, if ever that the practicalities of Joe Public using something able to fly becomes feasible (and will probably be with no one in it actually doing the flying).

I shudder at the very idea of most drivers being in charge of something capable of flying, especially given the state of maintenance on many cars.

Glaucus · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:00

Werewolf said:
(and will probably be with no one in it actually doing the flying).

That's taken as granted, even people developing flying cars at the moment have said it wont be allowed unless it is totally auto controlled. Which is why they are doing much of the research into such systems. Once it is auto controlled, maintenance doesn't become a problem, it can monitor itself and has to be reset by an approved mechanic.

Sinque · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:03

Never, you drive cars. Aeroplanes have already been invented.

Flibster · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:07

Hopefully never. I wouldn't even let half the numpties I see driving on a plane let alone fly one!

Glaucus · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:09

Flibster said:
Hopefully never. I wouldn't even let half the numpties I see driving on a plane let alone fly one!

But they wont be flying it.

Sinque said:
Never, you drive cars. Aeroplanes have already been invented.

Aeroplanes are not flying cars. ie. something anyone can own and use easily from home.

Sinque · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:20

AcidHell2 said:
But they wont be flying it.

Aeroplanes are not flying cars. ie. something anyone can own and use easily from home.

But would it still be a car?

taz488 · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:29

simulatorman said:
Possibly sometime in the distant future, just imagine traffic jams in the sky.

there wouldnt be any, everyone could go at a different height.

and it would without a doubt have to be automated, couldnt have millions of people just flying about where ever they wanted

people are being very pedantic about what a flying car is, the op quoted blade runner, so go watch it and look what he means by flying car. if you havnt seen it (you should) think the jetsons

Sinque · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:31

taz488 said:
and it would without a doubt have to be automated, couldnt have millions of people just flying about where ever they wanted

The Russian air force seems to do it

Glaucus · 20 Dec 2009 at 22:34

taz488 said:
there wouldnt be any, everyone could go at a different height.

As well as that simply being totally automated means increased through puts of 100s of %.. No waiting at traffic lights or roundabouts one anything. It cans ee traffic on your entire route and reroute you to optimise flow, as well as adjust speed so everything runs smoothly with no wasted time.
Which is one of the biggest reason normal cars will be fully automated in the future.