Tech requirements for viable flying car.

[Wicked Pilot]

Surprised no one has mentioned it before but probably noise is going to be your biggest issue to overcome. You can buy helicopters like the one listed below and park it in the backyard of your average American McMansion. First time you take it on a pizza and beer run at ten o'clock at night though you can expect to have the homeowner's association all up in your ass. Good luck too getting Wal-Mart to agree to letting you use their parking lot as an LZ. I imagine this one's pretty quiet as helos go too, if you want an SUV equivalent you'll be looking at a turbine engine, and the NIMBYs will really be coming out of the woodwork for that.

http://www.controller.com/listingsdetai ... 284205.htm

[Broomstick]

I wouldn't describe any Robinson as "quiet", but yeah, not quite as noisy as some.

If you're talking about turbine engines you'll also have issues with the exhaust temperatures which are quite... toasty.

[PeZook]

And of course turbines (and probably ducted fans, too) will turn any loose screws, rocks and the like into potentially projectiles that are potentially lethal to everyone present on the parking lot.

[Lagmonster]

Collison safety also would be big issue because with thousands of those things in the air collisions would be likely and in the air every minor fender bender would end with falling to death and possibly also on someones head. Maybe a parachute and fully computer cotrolled flight control could solve some of those problems.

As an interest point, if we had inexpensive and safe Star Wars style speeder cars, the immediate thing I'd want to see happen is that they would be used exclusively for public transport, emergency and cargo, with absolutely zero private ownership and use. That accomplishes several things:

1) Ensures that the people whizzing around in the air are specially trained to operate the vehicle, and whose JOB it is to navigate safely in this "lower commuter airspace".

2) Gets a lot of congestion (and the corresponding costly wear and tear) off of the roads. Among other things, emergency vehicles (such as ambulances, fire, and police) don't have to navigate road hazards, construction sites, traffic jams, etc. to get to and from emergencies. Public transport becomes much more direct (and arguably then favourable) than private.

This of course presumes that these machines aren't going to fall on anyone's heads or plow through some appartment building's upper story window, but we expect the same thing from regular air travel, so I'm assuming it's basically a given that there's a plan to handle the increased number of navigation hazards.

[Serafina]

Lots of Sci-Fi portrays their flying cars as following distinct lanes at distinct altitudes - so even with private ownership, they won't be zipping all around the place.

[Broomstick]

Even in the US's most uncontrolled airspace it's still strongly suggested that you adopt certain altitudes for certain directions - really, it's no more a stretch than keeping either right or left on a road. The problem isn't formulating some relatively simple rules to keep traffic order, the problem is getting the nearly bald upright bipedal apes to follow the rules.

[Dass.Kapital]

Adding a "What if" example of the previous "V.T.O.L" lift device I mentioned further up post.

http://cutangus.deviantart.com/art/USAF ... -282197621

[Lagmonster]

Lots of Sci-Fi portrays their flying cars as following distinct lanes at distinct altitudes - so even with private ownership, they won't be zipping all around the place.

You're probably right, but I'd imagine that the temptation among lazy drivers to, say, just take a shortcut and fly over a local public park would be more tempting than it would be for a land-bound person to drive through it. For one thing, it's easier.

[PeZook]

Not if all flying cars are equipped with black boxes that automatically record your flight path and send it to the police when a traffic camera nabs you

The vehicles would need a good inertial navigation system anyways, and traffic cameras can automatically enforce things even today ; Like telling if a car is authorized to enter bus lanes or catching vehicles moving against traffic, running red lights, etc.

[Forgothrax]

Might be wise to just mandate that flying cars run on autopilot within city limits. Very few non-professional drivers would be willing to go through the certification and licensing process to actually learn how to fly an aircraft manually in thick traffic, methinks. Outside the cities, some regulations might be relaxed, but autopilot would probably still be the norm.

[PeZook]

Yeah, and turning off autopilot inside city limits could automatically flag your vehicle for traffic management systems (since it would mean either an emergency or a violation)

[Broomstick]

Might be wise to just mandate that flying cars run on autopilot within city limits. Very few non-professional drivers would be willing to go through the certification and licensing process to actually learn how to fly an aircraft manually in thick traffic, methinks.

Speaking as someone who actually has gone through the necessary training and is certified to fly in heavy air traffic areas, including the current busiest airports (should I desire) I'd think even those who could fly manually might well opt to use autopilot. Flying in heavy air traffic is at least an order of magnitude worse than driving in heavy ground traffic.