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Ain’t no way you want flying taxis in Manhattan. If two collide or one fails, you could kill dozens of people. Maaaaybe instead of the tunnels and bridges, to
by tyre 10mo ago
Ain’t no way you want flying taxis in Manhattan. If two collide or one fails, you could kill dozens of people.
Maaaaybe instead of the tunnels and bridges, to increase throughput during rush hours, but even then we’re trying to have fewer vehicles in Manhattan, not more.
Also, I cannot imagine what it would be like to go through an intersection during the winter. You would be hit with a wall of cross-cutting wind tunneling down 50 blocks that no airborne device is going to handle well. Absolute nightmare.
- xnx 10mo agoRight. This wouldn't be point to point on the Manhattan grid, but from Manhattan Island back and forth to the airports.
- edoceo 10mo agoHelicopter. Already exists.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- s1artibartfast 10mo agoWell yeah, it would be like a cheap helicopter you can rent. What is so bad about that.
- MadnessASAP 10mo ago"Cheap" and "Helicopter" That's where the problem is.
- aetherson 10mo agoIt's certainly not crazy to imagine that you could cut the costs of a helicopter-like aircraft that was purpose-made for relatively short, relatively low-speed, relatively light load duties.
- rkomorn 10mo agoThe energy cost during operations is very relevant, too, which is why you see things like tilt rotor designs with wings/bodies to generate lift. When Airbus was doing the math on these a few years ago, the pilot cost was also one of the main concerns, so it was "autonomous or bust", and they ended up investing a lot on the autonomous side (not just the aircraft but also urban traffic management, etc).
- DonHopkins 10mo agoIt sucks when they hit airplanes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Potomac_River_mid-air_collision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Potomac_River_mid-air_col...
- rapsey 10mo agoDrone like flying vehicles are much safer and cheaper than helicopters. Or will be at least.
- ErroneousBosh 10mo agoHow will they be? Literally any failure of the aircraft means you die.
- rapsey 10mo agoNo they have multiple engines and can survive failures.
- AngryData 10mo agoI don't really agree with that. Helicopters can auto-rotate, drones can't. If something goes wrong with a drone system, it is going to crash hard guaranteed and likely doesn't have any meaningful control on the way down.
- kevin_thibedeau 10mo agoHelicopters have a significant safety problem. https://stopthechopnynj.org/safety-and-terrorism/?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://stopthechopnynj.org/safety-and-terrorism/?utm_source...
- rounce 10mo agoMore people are killed in motor vehicle accidents in a single month in NY than in all of the incidents listed on that page spanning 58 years.
- tyre 10mo agoI like the terrorism section here, which lists zero terrorist attacks (because there haven’t been any) and loads of supposed risks… And yet!
- fc417fc802 10mo ago> If two collide or one fails, you could kill dozens of people. How is that any different from an automobile navigating the ridiculously crowded streets?
- DonHopkins 10mo agoMuch worse, obviously.
- fc417fc802 10mo agoThat's not at all obvious to me. Please explain. Both are approximately car sized and both are likely to hit pedestrians. In a place with fewer pedestrians I'd buy that airborne vehicles might have a higher chance of hitting a person because they could crash somewhere that a traditional taxi couldn't. But when the place is packed wall to wall with people an arms length away I don't think that applies anymore. At least it doesn't seem self evident to me.
- krisoft 10mo agoConsider that not all malfunctions of a car leads it to crashing into things. The fuel system, the engine, the transmission and even the steering can completely break down and the car will still came to a stop. They are equipped with redundant brakes, and are always supported by the ground. At the same time an aircraft is much more precarious. If anything in the fuel, engine, transmission, props, or control surfaces go wrong it will come down and fast. They have much more potential energy than a car (because they are high up). They also typically have much more kinetic energy because they have to move faster to maintain lift if they are fixed winged, or they have to have fast rotating parts if they are rotary winged.
- SiempreViernes 10mo agoIn crowded streets cars obviously go slow, and in any case most traffic accidents don't result in a car starting accelerating uncontrollably until it runs into a building. Even a 20 m flight height means the taxi will reach 72 km/h before it hits the ground.