Most people are stupid and can barely navigate on the "2D" roadways.
How about this motto? "9-11 every day" because that is exactly what it would be like with car/planes flying into buildings every day of the week. Most people are simply too stupid for this.
I really do sympathize with people who think that a PAV would be great and being able to take to the air at low cost and with maximal computer guidance and minimal skill/risk requirement is a very attractive prospect.
However, we have to be realistic about whether this is really a valid alternative as far as global heating, congestion, and oil dependency goes.
A pivotal premise appears to be articulated in the following - "We're burning up into smoke 6.7 billion gallons of gas annually (from being) stuck in traffic jams," said Seeley
This is very true - and we also burn up fuel going up hills, only to burn up the energy by applying brakes going down hill - and run engines inefficiently when accelerating from a standing stop in traffic. Hybrid vehicles like the Prius have addressed every one of these inefficiencies. They are such ruthlessly efficient energy scavengers that they actually get better fuel economy in city traffic than they do on the open road - because the average speed is so much lower.
Plugin-hybrid vehicles offer the immediate promise of virtually eliminating gas consumption for dense urban commuting. (see www.calcars.org). These vehicles can be introduced into the traffic system with absolutely no additional infrastructure (public or otherwise) being implemented.
PAV are a nice idea and, who knows, maybe they'll actually happen one day. However, they are not in any sense a solution to the urgent issues that we confront today.
"a more economical, environmentally friendly way for people to get around and circumvent auto gridlock" We have gridlock over our airports frequently already - inability to handle the number of flights we have. Get the same mileage as a car? the same cars we absolutely have to get off the road to handle climate change? by the time this fantasy could be realized, cars will need to be getting 100 mpg, not the 18 mph they are talking about in a plane. And I can't wait to watch the crack-heads doing their drive-by shootings in these things. The way to break gridlock is to get most of the cars off the road, not into the skies.
Why are we interested in replicating the private car fiasco in the sky? if you want to use the air to get rid of grid-lock and to improve the environment, *start* with air buses, not private planes.
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How about this motto? "9-11 every day" because that is exactly what it would be like with car/planes flying into buildings every day of the week. Most people are simply too stupid for this.
Leonardo DaVinci didn't have carbon fiber.
However, we have to be realistic about whether this is really a valid alternative as far as global heating, congestion, and oil dependency goes.
A pivotal premise appears to be articulated in the following - "We're burning up into smoke 6.7 billion gallons of gas annually (from being) stuck in traffic jams," said Seeley
This is very true - and we also burn up fuel going up hills, only to burn up the energy by applying brakes going down hill - and run engines inefficiently when accelerating from a standing stop in traffic. Hybrid vehicles like the Prius have addressed every one of these inefficiencies. They are such ruthlessly efficient energy scavengers that they actually get better fuel economy in city traffic than they do on the open road - because the average speed is so much lower.
Plugin-hybrid vehicles offer the immediate promise of virtually eliminating gas consumption for dense urban commuting. (see www.calcars.org). These vehicles can be introduced into the traffic system with absolutely no additional infrastructure (public or otherwise) being implemented.
PAV are a nice idea and, who knows, maybe they'll actually happen one day. However, they are not in any sense a solution to the urgent issues that we confront today.
Why are we interested in replicating the private car fiasco in the sky? if you want to use the air to get rid of grid-lock and to improve the environment, *start* with air buses, not private planes.