• Epzillon@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Apart from all the discussion regarding how stupid this is, how the fuck would this even fit on a road? I doubt the wings would be durable enough if they were retractable. This shit would take up 2 lanes and fuck up any and all intersections. And as a added bonus, it would fuck with everyone elses perception who are used to the distances you keep away from regular vehicles when theyre turning in front of you. This shitheap wouldnt even make it to the airport because someone will probably misjudge the turn radius with the wings and fuck it up on the way there.

    • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
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      1 hour ago

      They fold to the rear. So apparently they are - at least supposed to be - durable enough.

  • Red_October@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    The vehicle, certified for airworthiness and flight-tested over 170 hours with more than 500 takeoffs and landings, is now headed for mass production.

    Jesus fuck please tell me that’s a typo and they left some zeros off. Your average commercial pilot has more than that before any airline is even willing to consider hiring them, that is absolutely not sufficient testing.

    Still, early adopters may face bureaucratic turbulence. Potential buyers must be both licensed drivers and certified pilots.

    No shit. And that is never going to change, becoming a certified pilot is a lot fuckin harder than getting a driver’s license, and for very good reasons. If some BMW-driving cunt can’t even be arsed to use his turn signal do you really want to ease the “bureaucratic turbulence” just so he can fuck up and crash into a packed airliner? These things still have to use runways, the people flying them still need to know how to behave themselves at airports, how to identify and avoid restricted airspace, how to communicate with ATC and how to behave if (let’s be honest, when) they get Intercepted.

    And all of this so you can have a car that’s worse at being a car, and an airplane that’s worse at being an airplane, but hey at least you won’t have to book a rental car at your destination airport, which I remind you they still have to use.

    • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
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      8 minutes ago

      As long as they’re only using smaller airports. Let the millionaires and billionaires have this. It’s like another ocean gate scenario.

      I agree with everything you’re saying though haha.

    • Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf
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      5 hours ago

      I still don’t get how these companies keep getting funded. There’s literally no way these things will ever become a thing. It’s simply ridiculous.

      • GnuLinuxDude@lemmy.ml
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        4 hours ago

        I’d be willing to bet if you put a calendar reminder in one year to check back on this you’d find that this car did not actually reach the mass-produced stage of industry.

      • Red_October@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        Investors and venture capitalists fronting money and riding the Hype-Go-Round, but when the music stops and the lights go out someone’s going to be out a shitload of money.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    12 hours ago

    So it’s a small plane then?

    I swear I saw this on TV like 20 years ago, it’s a stupid idea, if I wanted a plane I would buy a plane and then drive to the airport in my car, attempting to combine the two technologies just makes both of them worse.

  • Fleur_@aussie.zone
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    12 hours ago

    Oh just like they did 5yrs ago every 5 years since the invention of powered flight

  • HakunaHafada@lemm.ee
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    19 hours ago

    I feel like “mass-produced” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Also, insurance is going to be insane.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      12 hours ago

      I don’t think I’ve ever seen an intercity tram before. They tend to be strictly local affairs. Probably because local governments have to lay the lines, and there would be some kind of giant argument if it went across jurisdictions.