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That technology exists right now, and it could be used to make hovering (levitating) cars...but it is suppressed in order to ensure the kinds of vehicles we have now, remain the dominant mode of transportation.
We did an experiment in high school, took two magnetic rings, spun them counter rotational to each other, and once you reach a certain RPM, you can drop a paper clip in the middle and it will stay suspended in mid air (the anti grav effect is also toroidal), this is basically a room temp superconductor.
Did you also study how far the repelling force of magnetic field goes? Or what kind of power it would take?
Maybe I'm missing something, but the only reason I can think of for magnetic levitation is for reduction of friction, ala Maglev trains.
We were always lead to believe that one day, cars will fly but will that ever happen?
Flying 'cars' have been around since the 1950's.
They just aren't practical because they are expensive, highly costly to maintain, and the current transit systems are not capable of handling flying commuter traffic.
I mean, really........you want these psychopaths who can't even stop at a red light or stop sign to be in a flying machine????
It’s a pretty strong possibility. It’s much easier to automate as there is no road construction, potholes, snowy roads, drunk drivers, and existing older vehicle in that space. You can start with a clean slate. That will remove the need for a pilots license.
The first options may be cargo only. It’s much easier to certify and takes delivery trucks off the road freeing up traffic.
Was watching a couple YouTube videos about the latest in "personal flying vehicles." Someone always says, will be for sale soon! ...as part of startup. Call me a little skeptical, but my reasoning is practical. I do believe they...the nebulous "they"... will need to iron out the following at-minimum:
- Flight duration: 20 min at 60mph or so is cute and funny, but worthless. Guessing 120 min at 60mph or some other rather-low ground speed "limit" might cut the mustard
- Price less than $20K or so, sort of Tesla Model 3 territory, with high reliability.
- High reliability means high precision in flying too, ask anyone who flies helicopters why they are so expensive. Training requirements? Will someone say, "that's racist!" if maybe 40% of applicants flunk out?
- Will need to be gridded-out, vertically, and heavily enforced by software with potential override from local grid, period end-of-story. All hand-off muni grid to muni grid instantaneous. The possibility for operator death and mayhem is extreme, to say the least. Multiple crash fail-safe for the devices, no Blue Screen of Death bull allowed, period. "If error, auto-rotation type landing immediately!"
- Altitude lanes will need absolute traffic grid enforcement. Ingress/egress on multiple levels, hmm.
In fact, removing human touch to any of this is the smartest move.
Biggest problems to begin will be the aforementioned death and mayhem from human-controlled flight:
- "death from the skies" as someone removes all controls and plows in from 100' at 100mph into (anything on the ground), killing six people including nuns and preschoolers. Turns out operator was a psychotic off his meds, and BAC at .21 on-impact, yet was a mad-skillz inventor and mapped a rogue hacked OS onto the craft.
- Just plain asshats: 1) somehow removes all safeties 2) decides rules don't apply to him 3) 100mph at 20'. Forgets about overpass: shower of carbon fiber, limbs, rare earth battery parts all over town. One (very) dead idiot, huge mess, old people on C-D start shouting about God knows what them new-fangled contractions causing mayhem.
- Idiots sue manufacturers for creating "unsafe products."
I'm not sure the FAA could keep up with that, or anything else, if thousands of applications arrive one day when this is perfected for reasonable price.
Was watching a couple YouTube videos about the latest in "personal flying vehicles." Someone always says, will be for sale soon! ...as part of startup. Call me a little skeptical...
Odds are high you were watching something by Paul Moller about his AirCar. He's been working this schtick since the early 1960s. Apparently, he is both 100% genuine in his beliefs in the concept, and can absolutely talk money out of a stone. As I said, i worked next to his facility for a couple of years, and my boss, a very shrewd, practical, cynical businessman, finally copped that he was $25k into the fantasy.
Was watching a couple YouTube videos about the latest in "personal flying vehicles." Someone always says, will be for sale soon! ...as part of startup. Call me a little skeptical, but my reasoning is practical. I do believe they...the nebulous "they"... will need to iron out the following at-minimum:
- Flight duration: 20 min at 60mph or so is cute and funny, but worthless. Guessing 120 min at 60mph or some other rather-low ground speed "limit" might cut the mustard
That's 60mph as the crow flies, not idling their way through major thoroughfares. It's a starting point, but its not inconceivable that range will go up overtime.
Quote:
- Price less than $20K or so, sort of Tesla Model 3 territory, with high reliability.
- High reliability means high precision in flying too, ask anyone who flies helicopters why they are so expensive. Training requirements? Will someone say, "that's racist!" if maybe 40% of applicants flunk out?
As I've mentioned before it's a much easier vehicle to automate. No traffic lights, no deer crossing the road, no road conditions, etc. Currently most aircraft crashes are due to pilot error. Reliability of aircraft is already pretty high. Aircraft manufacturers are already looking for ways to fully automate aircraft as there is an impending global pilot shortage on the horizon.
Not sure what you mean by $20K being Tesla Model 3 territory (try $60K), but the concept will most likely start as a taxi.
Quote:
- Will need to be gridded-out, vertically, and heavily enforced by software with potential override from local grid, period end-of-story. All hand-off muni grid to muni grid instantaneous. The possibility for operator death and mayhem is extreme, to say the least. Multiple crash fail-safe for the devices, no Blue Screen of Death bull allowed, period. "If error, auto-rotation type landing immediately!"
- Altitude lanes will need absolute traffic grid enforcement. Ingress/egress on multiple levels, hmm.
In fact, removing human touch to any of this is the smartest move.
Biggest problems to begin will be the aforementioned death and mayhem from human-controlled flight:
- "death from the skies" as someone removes all controls and plows in from 100' at 100mph into (anything on the ground), killing six people including nuns and preschoolers. Turns out operator was a psychotic off his meds, and BAC at .21 on-impact, yet was a mad-skillz inventor and mapped a rogue hacked OS onto the craft.
- Just plain asshats: 1) somehow removes all safeties 2) decides rules don't apply to him 3) 100mph at 20'. Forgets about overpass: shower of carbon fiber, limbs, rare earth battery parts all over town. One (very) dead idiot, huge mess, old people on C-D start shouting about God knows what them new-fangled contractions causing mayhem.
- Idiots sue manufacturers for creating "unsafe products."
I'm not sure the FAA could keep up with that, or anything else, if thousands of applications arrive one day when this is perfected for reasonable price.
Depending on the level of automation, the flight path could easily be programmed by default into the system. Sao Paolo has human flown helicopter taxis in the air now, and no resulting mayhem to be found. Pilots are better trained than drivers, and aircraft automation is much simpler than cars. Aerial Traffic enforcement would be easier because aircraft have transponders that announce to everyone who they are, what speed they're doing, and where they are going. Remember there isn't a bunch of old geezers flying old personal drones that have outdated technology that refuse to change. It's a clean slate.
Unfortunately this type of technology will most likely be deployed in a more open minded country like the UAE. We can't even figure out how to get a bullet train.
But no, I don't think it's possible until we figure out a new physics of flight that involves something other than the Bernoulli principle and Newton's 3rd law.
We need some kind of sci-fi type anti-grav tech that works on completely different principles.
I think there is a good chance that future traffic will be dominated by driverless vehicles in a mag-lev flow. In a sense, "flying cars".
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