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Comment by patall | Hacker News Reader

So, you think those vehicles would be restricted to the country side? I find that very hard to believe. Especially suburban areas will be doomed by broad adaption of this kind of technology.

And while you may now see the advantage in remote areas, do not forget that when you get faster out you get in faster and the amount of people (and hence general noise) will increase so much. If a commute of one hour is acceptable for most people, its just the range those people live in that increases. And even if traffic is not that dense, some 100 dB noise every 2 minutes can be as annoying as a busy street nearby.

I always have the feeling that people always just look what they could do if they had this kind of technology and not what other people might do with it.

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I’m curious, if a local community doesn’t want to adopt a technology, don’t you think they should regulate it locally, instead of fussing about the fact that it may work fine for a different community? If a city doesn’t want flying taxis I don’t see why they can’t just pass an ordinance banning them.

If flying taxis work great for New Zealand’s use cause, are you really opposed to developing it because it won’t work in your country? What an odd way to think about technology.

The case that was being made is that the poster themselves wouldn't like the outcome they wish for because people in general have a tendency to under imagine others' behavior with a new tech, over their own benefits.

Some things don't work as well with a federated model of rules, and one of the things that's an especially poor match for that is comprehensive transportation systems, sort of by definition.

These planes are designed to pilot themselves. When the passenger enters a destination, it should query a database of areas where it is permitted to fly and pick the most appropriate route given the constraints.

In flight these things are going to be less noticeable at ground level than a car. If nothing else FAA regulations limit how close you can fly near houses. Yea, you could have people taking off near you but that's a 2x per day thing not every 2 minutes.

In terms of cities the simple solution is to prevent these from landing outside of designated areas.

Noise cancellation tech will catch up too.

tech isnt a magic wand that can be waved to solve any conceivable problem.

Id love to see the power usage of noise cancelling out a single helicopter for a single person. That's ignoring how horrible life could be for the person sitting next to them.

At some point you have to accept the laws of physics.

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