3 ms·

Isn't the point of flying cars that they don't need roads?

saghm 1y ago
Unless you expect that most people would be fine with an unbounded number of flying cars (presumably at least as noisy as existing ones) without speed limits in their neighborhood, there's going to have to be some sort of infrastructure. Just because they won't literally be roads doesn't mean that the same types of social dynamics won't apply.
littlekey 1y ago
Presumably they would need roads in the sense of arbitrary "surfaces" on top of one another, so that you could shift lanes vertically as well as horizontally. And then you would need at least a visual indicator of which lane you're in, maybe even force feedback similar to bott's dots.
nradov 1y ago
We would need a lot of landing pads free of nearby hazards (trees, wires, antennas). Those pads generally can't just be added on to existing buildings: most high-rise buildings weren't designed to support the necessary weight, plus roofs are already full of other equipment. Assuming appropriate sites can be found, there will also be a long permitting process to get construction approval. The latest eVTOL aircraft are quieter than conventional helicopters but still loud so anyone living and working nearby is going to complain. I'm sure they'll also raise environmental impact concerns in many areas because the noise will prevent the endangered yellow-footed salamander from laying eggs or whatever so working through the mandated mitigation process also takes years.
trehalose 1y ago
Airplanes don't need roads either, but airports do a lot more than just provide hangars to store them and runways for them to take off and land. There's all kinds of systems to help planes avoid collisions too. You might think it'll be very easy for flying cars to avoid crashing because they can just fly above and below each other, but that's also more directions for them to crash into each other from, more directions the drivers might have to rely on potentially faulty sensors where their vision is blocked. There might have to be invisible "lanes", maybe even with something like traffic lights, rather than having cars just flying every which way without external coordination.

Unless you expect that most people would be fine with an unbounded number of flying cars (presumably at least as noisy as existing ones) without speed limits in their neighborhood, there's going to have to be some sort of infrastructure. Just because they won't literally be roads doesn't mean that the same types of social dynamics won't apply.

littlekey 1y ago

Presumably they would need roads in the sense of arbitrary "surfaces" on top of one another, so that you could shift lanes vertically as well as horizontally. And then you would need at least a visual indicator of which lane you're in, maybe even force feedback similar to bott's dots.

nradov 1y ago

We would need a lot of landing pads free of nearby hazards (trees, wires, antennas). Those pads generally can't just be added on to existing buildings: most high-rise buildings weren't designed to support the necessary weight, plus roofs are already full of other equipment. Assuming appropriate sites can be found, there will also be a long permitting process to get construction approval. The latest eVTOL aircraft are quieter than conventional helicopters but still loud so anyone living and working nearby is going to complain. I'm sure they'll also raise environmental impact concerns in many areas because the noise will prevent the endangered yellow-footed salamander from laying eggs or whatever so working through the mandated mitigation process also takes years.

trehalose 1y ago

Airplanes don't need roads either, but airports do a lot more than just provide hangars to store them and runways for them to take off and land. There's all kinds of systems to help planes avoid collisions too. You might think it'll be very easy for flying cars to avoid crashing because they can just fly above and below each other, but that's also more directions for them to crash into each other from, more directions the drivers might have to rely on potentially faulty sensors where their vision is blocked. There might have to be invisible "lanes", maybe even with something like traffic lights, rather than having cars just flying every which way without external coordination.