[dopamean]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there's basically no chance that flying cars become a meaning part of life in America in my lifetime (I just turned 40).

[strangattractor]

Reminds me of how Popular Mechanics use to alternate between Flying Cars and return of the Blimps issues.

Scott is a sport pilot enthusiast and approached the evaluation from that perspective. I don't think there are many pilots, myself included, that believe we are on the verge of flying cars for mass transportation. They are expensive to purchase, maintain and impractical for many reasons.

[klipklop]

I agree. In the US I have seen simple regional public transportation projects take decades and they are still not complete. A single on/off ramp (literally a quarter mile of road) will take 5 years.

There is just no way a public flying car infrastructure can be built in the US in the next 30-50 years you are alive.

[dzhiurgis]

Hope China floods the markets with cheap DIY drones big enough for people that will be impossible to regulate. A bit like e-bikes heh.

[WithinReason]

Isn't the point of flying cars that they don't need roads?

[dzhiurgis]

In your opinion, what's more likely to mainstream first - bipedal bots or eVTOL's (flying cars)?

[dopamean]

Super late to this but I'd take bipedal bots. That's not to say I'm particularly bullish on that idea though. Seems like it might be simpler to build purpose built robots for specific tasks. They'd probably be faster.

[burkaman]

I agree with you, but keep in mind that's probably what 40-year-olds in 1903 said about planes after hearing about the Wright brothers. Sometimes things do actually change.

[cpmsmith]

If we assume this means "in the next 50 years", they wouldn't be totally wrong. You could make the case airplanes were only on the cusp of being "a meaning[ful] part of life in America" by 1953 – planes only overtook trains for domestic US travel in 1955, and 1957 for trans-Atlantic.

https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/commercial-aviati...