4 ms·
When people ask why we don't have flying cars this is why. Least we forget in 1959 the US car industry was already 60 years old.
by thrown_22 4y ago
When people ask why we don't have flying cars this is why.
Least we forget in 1959 the US car industry was already 60 years old.
- icedistilled 4y agorealistically it would be electric cars being widespread 15-20 years go. But yeah this comment is barely an exaggeration about flying cars. The car industry fought tooth and nail against seat belts and other things like collapsible steering columns.
- withinboredom 4y agoIsn’t there a movie about this? I vaguely remember watching one where the big names were sabotaging the inventor of the seatbelt.
- resist_futility 4y agoMaybe you were thinking of "Flash Of Genius" about intermittent windshield wipers?
- Treblemaker 4y agoOr this? Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker_(film)
- withinboredom 4y agoThat’s the one!
- msh 4y agoThe modern seatbelt was invented by a volvo engineer, and they freely shared it with the rest of the industry. I am certain that some car makers did not like the idea, but you cant say that the industry as a whole fought against seatbelts.
- bobthepanda 4y agoThe real issue is that flying cars need a lot more energy since they need to stay up in the air as well as move forwards, and the oil crisis quickly put an end to that kind of per-person energy consumption being realistic.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y agoI don't think we'll ever get flying cars the way people imagine them. To stay in the air, you either need to push a lot of air down (like a helicopter or drone), or have wings and push a lot of air backwards (like an airplane). The former allows you to hover, but is incredibly loud. The latter allows gliding, but requires a runway for takeoff/landing, not to mention a lot of lateral space for wings. Unless we have a breakthrough discovery and find a way to create lift without requiring either speed or moving a ton of air, the sci-fi visions of flying cars will remain fiction.
- bobthepanda 4y agothere's also the issue of "chunks of metal above people's heads can drop out of the sky". Imagine flying car accidents being about as common as car accidents today. That would be untenable.