46
submitted 4 days ago by Imnebuddy@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

3000 lb is very optimistic for a passenger vehicle, even a car. Most cars are not 3000 lbs. Only the smallest ones are. It's probably possible by using carbon fiber and plastic and composite components.

The real issue is cost. Right now a decent car like a flying vehicle that can carry 2 or 4 people is going to cost around 500k without big markups. The twin engines alone are going to be pushing north of 200k. If you go with batteries you can do it much cheaper but you are limited to 1-3 hours of flight time per day.

If you go much smaller like a 600-700 lb drone bike thing. You could probably get away with 400 HP inline 4 cylinder which is not easy but it's doable, but it's dangerous because you don't have redundancy. With a twin engine drone you can lose an engine and still land and recover from anything. Parachutes only work when you have a bit of time.

[-] Teh@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Yeah, I get all that. Link is still messed up. There certainly are functional prototypes of quad-copter “cars” that are all electrical in nature and that’s what I’d expect here too. Throw some wheels on one of those with a “road” speed of say 30-35 for the residential runaround tasks and the drive to an approved take off and landing zone (think flying above freeways only) and something like this becomes more feasible. The idea that we’re going to all be driving 4500 lb+++ “cars” is truly laughable.

The closest thing that I’d say exists today as a “flying car” is a Cessna 172 weighing in around 2500 lbs.

this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2025
46 points (96.0% liked)

Technology

40613 readers
208 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.


Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.


Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS