So this isn't exactly top of the minute news, but for those of you who missed the highlights from NextFest, here's one of the biggest showcases. The M400 .With a projected date of 2009, the future of transportation doesn't seem very far away, now does it? And I know this is nothing huge, but still pretty fun to think about 4 years from now, a select few could possibly own these things...pretty hard to believe science fiction is becoming science fact(got that of of some show or something). I just wonder will these really be made for the consumers of the world...things would seem a bit tricky and complicated if you ask me. Ex. You're waiting at a red light, but you don't have time so you liftoff and go over everyone...with nothing to stop you. Wow. Anyway i'm pretty impressed by this just in hopes(or hype) that this makes it out into the world.
I'll believe it when it's on the market.
Now, them flying LAWNMOWERS, on the other hand...
Flying Lawnmowers eh...what would you use those for exactly. Cutting down low stratus clouds? =P
They could be used to crop trees on roads and other inaccesible places.
A gleaming alloy aircar @.@
I bet a Red Barchetta could outrun it though 
I'm also going to remain skeptical until I see Emmet Brown screaching through the sky screaming "88 MILES PER HOUR!!!", but this is indeed very very awesome. Here's hoping we have a future full of 3 dimensional road laws which would require a university degree to gain a license not to mention the wealth of kings to own and maintain a skycar.
Oh, and of course I SERIOUSLY hope they use clean fuel to drive this.
Ladies and Gentleman, the barrier has been broken. We are now officially in the future. Feel free to worship me as your dystopian king.
I'm just glad some people threw their hats over the wall and figured out a way to do this. A flying car. I hope that by the time it becomes standard (and you know it will) they'll work out new 'skyway' rules. I mean, can you imagine if someone drove that thing drunk?
I think I'll still use my bike, thanks. 😡
Old news. I saw that picture like infinity years ago. GOSH.
Yeah, Jaffa, but your bike won't fly - at least, not without ET in the basket.
This reminds me of Back To The Future 2. With the flying cars.
"I hope that by the time it becomes standard (and you know it will) they'll work out new 'skyway' rules.
I dunno about rules, but NASA are a working on the skyways themselves. Basically it combines what is basically air traffic control on a much smaller scale with virtual reality to facilitate both maintaining safe and efficient traffic flow and actually flying the damn things in the first place. I forget where I read it, but it was an article linked to from another forum I visit.
Like J-man said, as nifty as it is, it's old news. The same topic that linked the article about NASA's highways of the sky linked another article about the M400 and various other flying cars.
"Here's hoping we have a future full of 3 dimensional road laws which would require a university degree to gain a license not to mention the wealth of kings to own and maintain a skycar."
And Craig, didn't they say something similar about computers? ;P
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the moment these things become comercially available and affordable to Joe Public (that or I become extravagantly rich and famous) I am so learning to fly one of these (if not the M400 itself, some other kind of flying car). 😀
Umm... same thing as any other car? I fail to see humour or relevance in that?
I mean... I just... *blinks*... urgh!
It's a legitimate concern.
Think about it; the amount of people who die in car crashes is staggering. And that's only confined to two dimensions.
Add an extra dimension. What do you get? More chances for property damage and loss of life.
That all really depends on what kind of a "road" structure would accomodate this tech. If it's wild, mass produced and used in densley populated areas then potentially an accident could be an exceptionally fatal and damaging occurance, if it's controlled in a safe and heavily licensed manner alike to owning a private jet and flying one of those, and air traffic in cities was kept safely and such, it would result in less fatality due to no other cars to colide with and such.
Personally the whole control and law system on the hovercar stuff has hurt my head since Fifth Element. I couldn't begin to picture a reality based equivalent.
If flying cars become the status quo, there's going to have be one heck of a system in order to limit chances for accidents.
Needless to say, I don't think Coruscant, The Jetsons, or Fifth Element will be good idea pools.
I'm sure that's why they'd add the spoilers to the flying cars so they don't go too high...
NO WAY! Oh my God! This isn't possible! This is, this is madness! This is insane! O_O I thought flying cars were centuries away! The world is coming to an end, I tell you!
And 28 miles per gallon? That's even MORE unbelievable!
But wouldn't speeds of 300 mph be a bit dangerous? You'd have to have, like, jedi reflexes to drive one o' those things. Even ground cars require quick reflexes.
But wouldn't speeds of 300 mph be a bit dangerous? You'd have to have, like, jedi reflexes to drive one o' those things. Even ground cars require quick reflexes.
True... but as an F1 enthusiast, I can't help but drool over the motorsport possibilities of this tech going flat out.
F-Zero and Wipeout step out of fantasy and into my tele! *Salivates*
I wonder how much these things will cost...
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F-Zero and Wipeout step out of fantasy and into my tele! *Salivates*
XD! Oh yes and Craig you asked about clean fuel...would alcohol be clean enough? From what I hear thats what they are using to fly this thing.
"XD! Oh yes and Craig you asked about clean fuel...would alcohol be clean enough? From what I hear thats what they are using to fly this thing."
Given that it's an organic compound, I can't imagine alcohol being that much cleaner than petrol. Compare ethanol (CH3CH2OH) to octane (CH3CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH3): the only real difference is the longer carbon chain - which doesn't affect the outcome of the reaction much, just the rate and maybe the number of moles of each reactant required - and that OH functional group. Either way, you're bound to get carbon dioxide produced on combustion. The only difference might be less or more CO2 produce per mole of fuel, but I'd have to check that (I don't know off the top of my head).
Hydrogen would make a much better fuel. All you get from burning that is water (4H + 02 -> 2H2O). They're already working on it for cars; I can't imagine it'd be too hard to transfer the same technology over to the flying cars.
Yikes Chemistry is haunting me at the MoFo! *dies* Well I heard they are working on this Hummer H2H which runs on Hydrogen so....maybe they'll change the fuel type of the M400.
*pictures the Hindenberg and R101*
Mind you, any car where you can legitimately say "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!" has got to be cool.
But I wish they'd just forget the flying bit and invent a car that talks, drives itself, can skid into a perfect parking space, comes when you call and can turbo boost...
DW
*returning to fantasyland*
Taking into consideration certain incidents such as yesterday's accident on Oak Street involving a rented Dodge Magnum and a cube van full of Tim Horton's doughnuts, I think we can all agree that people can't be trusted to safely wrangle two dimensions of space, let alone three.
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F-Zero and Wipeout step out of fantasy and into my tele!
OH HELL YES! *Makes a note to watch out for anyone referring to themselves as "Falcon"*
But seriously. I hope this idea does take off (pardon the pun). After all, I'm sure there're plenty of us in Britain who are well aware of the congestion problems we have on some of our roads *coughLondoncough*. And after all, it's obvious that existing methods *coughcongestionchargescough* won't be enough to solve it. If they can make this technology a viable alternative then I'm all for it.
~LightStrike!
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Taking into consideration certain incidents such as yesterday's accident on Oak Street involving a rented Dodge Magnum and a cube van full of Tim Horton's doughnuts, I think we can all agree that people can't be trusted to safely wrangle two dimensions of space, let alone three.
As Cyke said. They'd have to give an alternate test to be able to drive/pilot one of these things. You couldn't just have a driver's license...you'd need a special license,IMO and even that might not be enough. Selling these to the masses could be like homicide.
