[smaili]

> One major issue is there aren’t enough places for these vehicles to take off and land.

Is that really a "major" contributor?

[MichaelCollins]

Isn't it the number one reason all "flying car" proposals are doomed to fail? They don't violate physics and the '3d driving is too hard' problem could in principle be solved with software. But they simply don't fit into our society. They literally don't fit. Even if you can fit a VTOL on a suburban driveway, it would be too dangerous and noisy to not get banned. The space requirements are such that they could only work in rural areas, which severely limits their utility and consequently their commercial viability.

[radu_floricica]

Roofs? I mean, bringing a flying thing on a busy city street where it has to contend with everything from wires to delivery drones does seem like a bad ideas, but landing on the roof of your office building is pretty much ideal, and doesn't seem to need major infrastructure.

You won't be able to call one up to a street corner, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's no money to make. The first thing they'll do is just take the helicopter market and slide the supply/demand curves to wherever they can go at 1/10 of the price. Only when this is done they need to look for completely different models.

[snickerbockers]

I wonder how well they'd scale if they became wide-spread enough to actually be an alternative to ground-based transportation. Would there need to be a complicated air-traffic control network to prevent collisions? Would there be "flying roads" complete with their own traffic jams like in the jetsons? Would popular destinations have long queues of vehicles waiting for their turn to land on the helipad?

[seanmcdirmid]

They could work in Alaska where personal bush and float planes are common. VTOL would avoid having lakes filled up with float planes.

[nradov]

I don't see how the piloting problem could be solved with software. These new VTOL aircraft are going to have to be in the same airspace as other light aircraft flying under VFR. How are they going to see and avoid without a licensed pilot? Cameras aren't good enough yet in adverse lighting conditions.

[bobsil1]

At least one fits in 3 parking stalls. Renting them like Electrify America.

[bee_rider]

On one hand, the lack of landing places is a problem. On the other, the whole idea of an Air Taxi Service is sufficiently ridiculous as to render a ranking of problems somewhat academic.

[klyrs]

It ain't a "taxi" if it doesn't get you from where you are to where you want to be. Sounds like a major showstopper to me...

[bee_rider]

It is a major showstopper in the same way that the lack of widespread huge trampolines installations is a major showstopper for my giant cannon based transit concept. Sure it is a problem but is it the problem?

[numpad0]

One of legs is a major body part of an elephant.