from the maybe-he-is-just-up-in-the-air-about-them dept.
One flying car seems absurd; Larry Page has three.
He started with Cora, a two-seater flying taxi, then added a sporty flying boat called Flyer, both developed by a company called Kitty Hawk. And last week, The Verge discovered a third: Opener, which just came out of stealth mode. There was no mention of the Google co-founder in the startup’s announcement, but when confronted with evidence of Page’s involvement, Opener quickly issued a press release admitting it.
Flying cars (more formally known as eVTOLs — for electric vertical takeoff and landing) are the electric scooters of aviation. Everyone from Uber to Airbus is working to build the lightweight aircraft and the aerial networks they will require, to say nothing of a host of well-funded startups, including Joby in the US, Volocopter in Germany, and China’s EHang.
Just last week the airline companies got upset at how disruptive SpaceX and Blue Origin are to their flight plans.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @11:56AM
The flying car inhabited dystopias of Metropolis and Blade Runner can be fully realized.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @01:56PM (1 child)
They're winged multi rotor aircraft.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Saturday July 21 2018, @12:52AM
With no auto-rotation as far as I've seen...
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 20 2018, @01:59PM (2 children)
Larry and Sergey "somehow" convinced the US Navy to permit their own personal 747 to use Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. Or maybe it's Sunnyvale.
That's Just Wrong.
I think the base has been decommissioned but the Navy still maintains it.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by EvilSS on Friday July 20 2018, @02:42PM (1 child)
B) NASA not the Navy (USN turned it over to the Ames research center years and years ago)
C) NASA allows other companies to lease the field and hangers as well.
D) Google is paying millions of dollars to NASA for the lease
E) Google also carries scientific instruments for NASA on their private jets for research
They wanted to make it a public airfield but residents got up in arms over possible UPS/Fedex flights.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday July 20 2018, @02:44PM
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday July 20 2018, @03:12PM (3 children)
Multi-billionaires need hobbies. So he gets his kicks out of flying car startups. Not my cup of tea, but good for him.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 20 2018, @04:27PM (2 children)
True enough, and it seems a relatively cheap and fun hobby. I mean I'm sure Musk gets a thrill watching one of his rockets fly, especially when it's a new design testing some major new component or capability - but I suspect having a stable full of creative personal aircraft makes the average weekend a lot more fun.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 20 2018, @04:53PM (1 child)
"creative personal aircraft" don't always transform all their potential and kinetic energy in a controlled manner.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 20 2018, @04:58PM
Heck, neither do well-established and tested designs - and that's pretty exciting too. Maybe it's the last excitement you ever have, maybe it leaves you with a good story to tell - either way, a lot more interesting than sitting around drinking beer and watching TV.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 20 2018, @03:37PM
The aircraft is named BlackFly, The group (company?) making it is Opener.
Looks rather cool, and considerably simpler than most of the competitors. Other than the straight up wingless multi-copters at least - and is seems like the biplane aspect should improve it's speed and efficiency over those.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 20 2018, @08:48PM
What, no Moller Skycar in the collection?
It's incomplete!
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:10AM (2 children)
Two reasons. First, that multi engine vertical design is inherently unsafe especially for engine failures. That's why military almost have none of them.
The second reason is that actual mechanics of flight is less than 10% of training. A teenager can be taught to fly a regular aircraft in two hours. Most of them take off on the first attempt and land successfully during the second lesson. Many people fly ultralight without any training whatsoever for many years.
However, left at that, in real life flying this teenager will be dead by his 5-10th hour. There are way more tricks than simple flying in a pilot's skill set. Some of them are not obvious, such as a pilot have to have a certain character that most people don't have before the training.
I know that those Google folks are betting on AI's for that. Well, if they succeed, it will be AI flying stoned morons to the nearest bar. But I don't hold my breath.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday July 21 2018, @01:14AM
Forgot to mention - a perfect example of such a moron with this approach to flying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Jr._plane_crash [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @08:19AM
I made the Moller comment in jest.
The Skycar has been a running joke for decades--basically a way for the inventor to make a living off investors while delivering little. Hmm, come to think of it, put that man in charge of a software startup!