this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.

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[–] tal@lemmy.today 19 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Flying cars. The idea has intuitive appeal


just drive like normal, but most congestion problems go away!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_car

We've made them, but the tradeoffs that you have to make to get a good road vehicle that is also a good aircraft are very large. The benefits of having a dual-mode vehicle are comparatively limited. I think that absent some kind of dramatic technological revolution, like, I don't know, making the things out of nanites, we'll just always be better off with dedicated vehicles of the first sort or the second.

Maybe we could have call-on-demand aircraft that could air-ferry ground vehicles, but I think that with something on the order of current technology, that's probably as close as we'll get.

[–] bob_lemon@feddit.org 14 points 3 days ago

Flying cars lose al appeal the moment you encounter other drivers on the road. Just imagine that, but flying.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The thing is how is a flying car different from a aircraft?

We have (ultra) light aircraft not much more expensive than a good car, we have helicopter with vtol abilities. Licencing isn't that more complex than for a car.

The problem are the maintenance cost as a failure would be dramatic, and the noise meaning people don't want them over their bacxyard/balcony

[–] ageedizzle@piefed.ca 2 points 3 days ago

how is a flying car different from a aircraft?

If we had as many aircraft in the sky as we do cars on the road, the changes of deadly collisions in the air would go up by a lot. It would become crowded up there, with a lot of potential obstacles to bump into.

[–] flabbergast@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I don't think any government will ever allow flying cars.
Too prone for accidents, and way too much freedom.

[–] Limerance@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

There are many models of flying cars. They usually are bad cars and bad planes and very expensive. Only good for niche wealthy enthusiasts.