26 replies to this topic

[JasnoDTX]

Uber Elevate 3 day conference happening now. Test markets will be Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai for flying cars by 2020-2023. Lots of guest speakers including Ross Perot JR., Mike Rawlings and many tech gurus. Google for more info. This is one of the links. Very interesting.

https://www.google.c...nd-dubai/amp/to

[Doohickie]

Technically feasible?  Maybe.  Will it actually happen in the U.S.?  NFW.  They can't even keep the self-driving car thing going.  It's not that the tech isn't there, it's that when errors occur, society can't handle it.

[JasnoDTX]

It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off. Rich people dream big... sometimes their egos take over practicality but I wish them the best.

[johnfwd]

More on this visionary concept in the FWBP article below.  You will note that Mayor Price puts a "Fort Worth spin" on this, even though the project was announced in Big D.  Rightly so, because Fort Worth is home to Bell Helicopter, one of the prospective partners.

 

 

http://www.fortworth...d9f143f752.html

[renamerusk]

Now let me see; where on my "can't do without it" list shall I place it?

 

Why associate our region with the over the top, conspicuously consumptive Dubai crowd and where women are treated as second class citizens? Accept  Except for show, there appears to be very little need to air taxis oneself between points within the region accept for a need to be self important.  Of course, this will eventually become a cost-of doing-business tax deduction for which others will collectively pay as it is passed off.

 

[Doohickie]

Except.  The word you're looking for is except.

[Now in Denton]

More on this visionary concept in the FWBP article below.  You will note that Mayor Price puts a "Fort Worth spin" on this, even though the project was announced in Big D.  Rightly so, because Fort Worth is home to Bell Helicopter, one of the prospective partners.

 

 

http://www.fortworth...d9f143f752.html

 

Just a matter of time before we hear Bell Helicopter "in Dallas" if it has not happened already.

[Volare]

Let me add this to my list of things I'm holding my breath for:

 

Modern Streetcar

T&P Warehouse Rehab

Public Market Rehab

[renamerusk]

Except.  The word you're looking for is except.

 

 Corrected. Thanks.

[Austin55]

Let me add this to my list of things I'm holding my breath for:
 
Modern Streetcar
T&P Warehouse Rehab
Public Market Rehab

Dreamvision

[Now in Denton]

Dreamvision lol . Don't forget the 30 story "Ruins" condo  

[Keller Pirate]

Where will these flying cars land to pick up a passenger? If you decide to go out for the night, is the flying car going to land in the street in front of your house? If you are going to Del Frisco's for dinner, will they land on Main St. to drop you off?

I know they mentioned rooftop landing pads on buildings in downtown areas, but what if you wanted to dine or drink on Magnolia? I think there are some yuge regulatory issues to overcome, not to mention neighbors.

[johnfwd]

Good points.  This country doesn't have the transit infrastructure to support the "flying car concept" if it is going to compete with the automobile for convenience and necessity.

 

I think what may happen is that the flying car will act as a shuttle to pick people up, then drive them to an airport for take-off, then vice-versa after landing.  How this would be remarkably different than the current scheme, I do not know.

[Doohickie]

Near an airport?  I doubt it.

[renamerusk]

Would Mr. Perot, Jr. just concentrate on building one tall building in Downtown instead of this pie in the sky project?   On second thought, this may be just the thing to have Hillwood & Dubai-nites build such a tower for this project so that there is a landing place in Downtown.

[johnfwd]

Would Mr. Perot, Jr. just concentrate on building one tall building in Downtown instead of this pie in the sky project?   On second thought, this may be just the thing to have Hillwood & Dubai-nites build such a tower for this project so that there is a landing place in Downtown.

Oh.  So, if not trips to and from an airport, then launch and landing pads atop buildings?  We already have helicopters for that means of transportation.   A flying car is supposed to be a land-and-air vehicle competing with both auto and airplane.  So, cars do the roads and airplanes do the airports.  Flying cars do both roads and airports?  But, I agree with Keller Pirate, that having flying cars on I-35 or any other major expressway might be a risky proposition.

[Austin55]

Airports would seem to be the most obvious place to have this start from. If you are a Saudi Prince with money to blow and visiting DFW, you probably want to get to your posh hotel in downtown (be it Dallas, FW or any other destination) being able to fly directly to that destination is much more desirable than taking 121 or TEXrail. 

[Doohickie]

Airports would seem to be the most obvious place to have this start from. If you are a Saudi Prince with money to blow and visiting DFW, you probably want to get to your posh hotel in downtown (be it Dallas, FW or any other destination) being able to fly directly to that destination is much more desirable than taking 121 or TEXrail. 

 

But I just can't see the already-crowded airspace around a major airport having air taxis mixed in.  It just seems a recipe for (literal) disaster.

[Volare]

Would Mr. Perot, Jr. just concentrate on building one tall building in Downtown instead of this pie in the sky project?   On second thought, this may be just the thing to have Hillwood & Dubai-nites build such a tower for this project so that there is a landing place in Downtown.

 

If he builds a tower anywhere, it will be in Dallas, not Fort Worth.

[renamerusk]

 

Would Mr. Perot, Jr. just concentrate on building one tall building in Downtown instead of this pie in the sky project?   On second thought, this may be just the thing to have Hillwood & Dubai-nites build such a tower for this project so that there is a landing place in Downtown.

 

If he builds a tower anywhere, it will be in Dallas, not Fort Worth.

 

 Which is why its silly for the Mayor to be backing this. 

 

 Once again, Regionalism going off the rails.

[johnfwd]

 

Airports would seem to be the most obvious place to have this start from. If you are a Saudi Prince with money to blow and visiting DFW, you probably want to get to your posh hotel in downtown (be it Dallas, FW or any other destination) being able to fly directly to that destination is much more desirable than taking 121 or TEXrail. 

 

But I just can't see the already-crowded airspace around a major airport having air taxis mixed in.  It just seems a recipe for (literal) disaster.

 

I agree with you about major airports.  I was thinking of the minor airports like Alliance, Meacham, Spinks, etc., where mostly business and charter jets take off and land.

[johnfwd]

The "air taxi" is somewhat related to the flying car concept envisioned at that Uber conference recently.  But Bell Helicopter is developing its own version with the help of Uber and others, and is showing a concept model at the CES convention, as explained in this FWBP article.

 

http://www.fortworth...3cee1f87bd.html

[txbornviking]

The "air taxi" is somewhat related to the flying car concept envisioned at that Uber conference recently.  But Bell Helicopter is developing its own version with the help of Uber and others, and is showing a concept model at the CES convention, as explained in this FWBP article.

 

http://www.fortworth...3cee1f87bd.html

 

 

all this talk of "air taxi's" and shared autonomous vehicles being our saviors from congestion sound to me like a rehash of the failed STOLports of the 1970s and AV's are a rehash of the failed promise of PRT in the 1970.

 

If only we could instead invest in what we know works; improved land-use policies, frequent bus networks, rail along densest corridors, inter-city rail for destinations up to 600miles apart. There are literally hundreds of cities we could emulate and start moving forward now.

 

Tomorrows promise won't save us, but action today can!

[JBB]

The air taxi plan reminds me of all of the talk a couple of years ago about Amazon testing drone delivery.  Lots of fun, but probably not practical at this point.

[BlueMound]

Kitty Hawks electric VTOL: the Heaviside
https://newatlas.com...n-a-dishwasher/

[BlueMound]

Joby Aviation and Toyota team up to make eVTOL air taxis a reality
https://newatlas.com...evtol-air-taxi/
A couple of takeaway points:
1. liquid hydrogen (although extremely dangerous) solves the energy density problem that batteries continue to have
and makes eVTOL a reality.
2. Australia is investing big to become a liquid hydrogen exporter

[BlueMound]

This Big Crazy Vertical Takeoff And Landing Drone Belongs To Toyota And May Run On Hydrogen
https://www.thedrive...-and-space-port