Hacker News Reader

Comment by velovoy | Hacker News Reader

The Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 91.119 indicates that, except when necessary for departure or landing, the minimum altitude over urban areas is 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) and 500 feet AGL over rural areas. But small aircraft often violate this; new laws would need to enforce this minimum height in order for personal flying vehicles to be safe.

View on HN

Presumably that rule was made for safety reasons. Why would it be safe for flying cars to fly that low over urban areas when it isn't safe for regular airplanes to do so?

Because of the aerial street grid that can be viewed on the vehicle's computer or a helmet's shield using AR? Basically replicate a street 30 feet above ground with enough clearance to avoid large vehicles. It doesn't need to be some massive flying vehicle. It can start with the little Jetson One vehicle. Stop signs and traffic lights in the AR grid can be used too. However, a flying vehicle would need to be able to hover in order to yield to another vehicle.

That sounds like helicopters now, which are also not allowed to fly that low over busy city streets. The problem isn't just knowing where you are in space; it's also that if there's a catastrophic loss of power, you don't want to land on someone's head.

Well, actually, I might want to if it cushions the landing, but the person below wouldn't be too happy about it.

There could be mutiple safety redundancies built into the vehicle, like emergency deployment of large balloons in case of mechanical failure and a smaller propeller that lets the driver navigate to a safe landing spot in a parking lot. Also, emergency batteries, emergency propellers, airbag deployed below the vehicle so it softens the landing (and any injuries for the people smooshed).

Take a look at the Jetson One https://www.jetsonaero.com/ It is definitely not a helicopter and incapable of the huge damage that helicopters do. The flight speed is up to only 63 mph. It's more like a small, flying scooter.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com