Startup backed by Tesla investor promises $300k flying car by 2025 | Hacker News Reader

Startup backed by Tesla investor promises $300k flying car by 2025

cnbc.com

15 pointsmfiguiere12 comments

“Dukhovny has also publicly announced his intention to build a cheaper version, called the Model Z, that sells for just $35,000 by 2030.

In October, Dukhovny told Reuters that the proposed Model Z would be “not more complicated than a Toyota Corolla,” and should therefore have a similar price range.”

Sounds like another ‘why don’t you just…’ answer to incredibly complex technical problems.

I thought we were past that kind of hand-waving overpromising in the mobility space by now

I guess Segway could do another run

Flying cars has always been a terrible, unworkable idea. I can't imagine a society where people are in charge of maintaining their own flying machines and use them as daily commuter devices. There is a reason private aviation is difficult and it is because it is in society's interest not to have ordinary people zipping around in multi-ton machines in airspace above populated areas.

I kind of think the same was said of trains and cars at some point.

Consider 'flying around' in multi-ton 500-horsepower 50 foot big rigs through populated areas. We have accepted that risk.

It's all about the failure rate, nothing more.

I am not really of the mind that the general adoption of automobiles was a net positive for humanity. Moving greater distances from things we need has created a need for them when they should be no more than a convenience. Using a few tons of metal to move a single person from place to place is incredibly inefficient and should be stopped as soon as possible. Note I am speaking of individual use of cars. The same holds true for flying. We don't need to do it and I can't see it making anything better in the slightest.

But we have to admit, individuals may find them useful or entertaining. If those individuals can afford them, we will have them.

In this world of relative freedom, we don't have options like stopping things as soon as possible. You can make them relatively expensive with tariffs, or regulate them to make licensing onerous. If the public doesn't agree with that, and the public is made up of many individuals, then even that much opposition will fail.

They don't need to zip around. Shooting straight up and then gliding directly to your destination will get to most places in a town.

This is a heck of a promise. What's he backing it up with?

I think the regulatory challenges are underestimated even in the article itself, which describes them as 'substantial'.

Maybe they'll be where those waterborne 'jetpacks' are now in 3 years (basically playthings for the rich), but I wouldn't expect to see cars spontaneously taking flight anytime soon on common roads.

So a helicopter

A quadcopter with wheels, a cockpit, and carbon fiber crumple zones.

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