[gorgoiler]

Very cool, especially the demo video which eventually loaded.

Something on their website smells a little whiffy and bovine though:

”[our mission] is to change the way we travel and make the skies available for everyone”

Erm. Everyone? I don’t think so. Your mission is to give the 0.1% yet another way to be jerks, only this time with added noise!

[jefftk]

Lots of things start off as only for rich people, and get cheaper as the technology matures and scales up. Making something only rich people can afford can be part of the process of making something available for everyone.

(In this case it costs $92k, so under 0.1% in rich countries)

[CryptoPunk]

Knee-jerk ascription of new product classes to elitism isn't constructive.

The iPhone, when first released in 2007, cost $500, or about $800 today after adjusting for inflation, but launched a smartphone industry that today produces devices that are affordable enough that 3 billion own one, including some that go for as little as $50 and have better performance than the original iPhone.

[gorgoiler]

Dude, it’s a helicopter.

[CryptoPunk]

It's a multicopter..

[Tade0]

> Your mission is to give the 0.1% yet another way to be jerks, only this time with added noise!

Imagine having - instead of car-centric cities - personal-aircraft-centric cities.

[egypturnash]

Imagine a constant, loud drone of propellers. High pitched whines that rise and fall, mixing into a shrieking chorus when you get close to a major destination.

Imagine cities built without any thought given to how people who don’t have their own aircar will get around. Roads can be used by foot or cycle traffic. Some places might be completely cut off from the outside world except for air traffic.

Imagine buildings towering high into the sky, tiny aircraft vying for ways in and out of the landing bays that pepper the building’s sides like holes in a tree full of birds.

Imagine a significant portion of these aircraft shrieking their way over your head are piloted by people who are badly trained, drunk, arrogant assholes, or otherwise uncaring of the rules of the road. Imagine some of these people have disabled the sophisticated collision-avoidance methods the law would surely require - maybe because it broke in their old aircar and they can’t afford to get it fixed/replaced, but can afford an illegal workaround; maybe because a business can get just enough profit to feel like it’s worth the risk and fines, maybe because they are bored teenagers playing chicken. Imagine two air cars crashing near their flight ceiling, right above a busy convergence of routes. Or above the tower you live in.

Imagine aircars maintained to the standards of personal vehicles, rather than expensive airplanes. Imagine the equivalent of a rust-bucket with several dents, a fender held on by wire, and one wheel running on a spare. Imagine the shittiest thing you’ve seen on the freeway, translated to the air.

[darepublic]

I was thinking more long distance commute and moving away from city

[mhb]

Like cell phones!