March 3, 2001

6:33 PM

This scares me sillygiven the general skill level drivers display in my town. I'm imagining some idiot chatting away on a cell phone taking out my condo.
posted by rdr (8 comments total)

Woohoo! Meet George Jetson!
posted by frykitty at 6:41 PM on March 3, 2001

This sounds an awful lot like a joke...a play on IT perhaps?
posted by thebigpoop at 7:27 PM on March 3, 2001

For the longest time, I've been talking about how excited I am for the day when we needn't drive cars anymore, and it will be done for us automatically. Well, gee, I honestly didn't think planes would beat out cars, but it actually makes a lot more sense when you think about it. Awesome, what a cool idea. Unfortunately, transportation suffers the same last-mile issues that are everpresent today with connections to the net today. Even if you have this cool plane that flies itself, you still have to drive from the airport to your house (or take a train to a trainstation, and drive from there to your house). It'll be really cool, when it's all automated, won't it? =)

I can't wait.
posted by ookamaka at 7:36 PM on March 3, 2001

Cool idea, but how fuel efficient is it? Last thing we need is a MORE environmentally destructive way to get around...
posted by muppetboy at 7:39 PM on March 3, 2001

Can we all wear our tinfoil suits when we fly our plane-o-cars? Better yet, let's all use auto-gyros instead of plane-o-cars. Personally, I won't be happy until we have those evap-o-porters like Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century.
posted by briank at 7:49 PM on March 3, 2001

The M400 Skycar's been in development for a few years now. Here's some more information. If I had a spare million, I'd buy one tomorrow. I wouldn't fly it, mind you. I would just sit and stare at it because it looks really, really cool.
posted by shinybeast at 9:46 PM on March 3, 2001

It's great because of the steep learning curve. Years after it comes out, all the idiots that mess up will be DEAD.
posted by Capn_Stuby at 11:42 PM on March 3, 2001

I'd say that the design has been around for at least ten years. I remember seeing a black version of the M400 Skycar that long ago. It works like an harrier so the only thing you'll have to worry about is keeping your trees pruned. Parallel parking is out of the question as people have hard a hard enough time doing that in two dimensions. And harriers are noisy...I wouldn't want to live next to one.
posted by samsara at 7:14 PM on March 4, 2001