https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-begins-flight-testing-an-electric-air-taxi

Video of this thing flying in amongst the words.

That looks cool. I want one.

FWIW I’ve been working on a design for one as well. This is an early-ish version, the latest one is a fair bit more sci-fi looking.
We hope to be able to attract investors so it can be built here in Australia. It’s unlikely to ever happen, but we’d like to try anyway.

It’d be quite a lot faster than the one linked to in this thread.

Michael V said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-begins-flight-testing-an-electric-air-taxi

Video of this thing flying in amongst the words.

“With luck, one outcome of the vibrant, disruptive industry might be that staple of science fiction novels for over a century – truly safe, affordable, flying cars.”

All I can say to that is:

hmmm.

I tried, I really tried not to put this in this thread. But everytime I see the thread name I start singing this…so you lot might as well do it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnVTkhxFlQ

(Traumshiff Surprise “Space Taxi” song)

buffy said:

I tried, I really tried not to put this in this thread. But everytime I see the thread name I start singing this…so you lot might as well do it too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFnVTkhxFlQ

(Traumshiff Surprise “Space Taxi” song)

Like me with witty’s whistling language. I started whistling the tune that has the alternate lyrics.. ie: Bullshit was all the band could play.

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

I mean … it’s just doing what a helicopter does, right?

dv said:

I mean … it’s just doing what a helicopter does, right?

Sure, but without the internal combustion engine.

dv said:

I mean … it’s just doing what a helicopter does, right?

Essentially, yes, A city based model would be just a different type of helicopter. It would take off and land vertically, top speed should not be much of a problem. It would be more the noise problem that would be most important.

The other types are helicopters capable of higher speeds. These would be more for long distance travel between cities but capable of operating from helicopter spots rather than needing runways. Therese are not really air taxis as such. More of a charter or business travel thing.

Increased air traffic,especially of a kind which requires only more basic qualifications for operators, and landings and takeoffs in densely-populated locations brings increased risks.

Right now, traffic incidents (breakdowns, collisions, etc) with ‘taxi’ services are essentially confined to the roads.

With ‘air taxis’ it’ll be different. When your air taxi loses power, you can’t just roll to a stop at the roadside, and the wreckage of collisions does not stay in the road area.

Every street, every house, every park, every back yard is a potential crash site.

Your household insurance will get a whole lot more expensive.

dv said:

I mean … it’s just doing what a helicopter does, right?

Probably limited in speed in comparison.

party_pants said:

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

I would call that skepticism.

dv said:

I mean … it’s just doing what a helicopter does, right?

Superficially, yes.

But there are lots of advantages of a quad/hex setup over the standard helicoptor design in an urban environment. Being able to fly them autonomously is the big selling point.

We’re looking into buying a drone for surveying that uses similar techniques that takes the standard <30min drone flight time to over an hour.

party_pants said:

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

Especially when Elon Musk can now build tunnels at a tenth of the cost of conventual construction techniques.

The Rev Dodgson said:

party_pants said:

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

I would call that skepticism.

Sigh.

Please insert an n’t after would.

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

Especially when Elon Musk can now build tunnels at a tenth of the cost of conventual construction techniques.

I think we can exclude Mr Musk from any sensible conversation about transport infrastructure.

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

party_pants said:

Forgive my skepticism, but in a well designed and planned city these things should be unnecessary. Land based or underground transport should take care of all ordinary passenger routes. If you are using these things to overcome traffic congestion caused by bad design, you might want to invest in redesign before you start adopting fancy flying machines.

Especially when Elon Musk can now build tunnels at a tenth of the cost of conventual construction techniques.

I think we can exclude Mr Musk from any sensible conversation about transport infrastructure.

Jaysus, “conventual” WTF.