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Comment by ilamont | Hacker News Reader

I saw a presentation by the founder six or seven years ago. At the time, they had working, flying prototypes that were being tested around northern NY and New England (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnF2yua4KIw). The idea then was the wings would fold up so you could drive it to and from a standard home garage to the airfield, and then start flying.

Clearly there were some major regulatory hurdles they were working through related to licensing and other FAA requirements, but (according to the CEO) they had customers ready to buy and start using them.

The new TF-X model looks a lot slicker, and uses computer-assisted VTOL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJTZ7k0BXU

Curious to see how this plays out under new ownership.

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This class of flying car has never made much sense to me. It has to follow auto and aircraft regulations, with multiple different propulsion systems for different types of travel. Why not just focus on creating a small, autonomous, VTOL aircraft (an enormously hard problem by itself), and then assume the rider will use ride share or public transit for the last mile.

That does seem to be the direction that most efforts like this are leaning towards now.

I am honestly amazed that Terrafugia is still around. It was a great effort and it was awesome seeing them build a few prototypes, but it doesn't seem to have much hope of getting beyond that.

FTA (actually about 15% of the <300 word article):

> The company expects its first product, a two-seat, fixed-wing “roadable aircraft” called Transition, to enter the market in 2019.

> Its next generation concept is the TF–2, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed for cargo and passenger loadings.

Because hangars are pricey.

The whole point of the roadable aircraft is that you don't have to rely on airport infrastructure.

Hangers are insignificant compared to the cost of fuel. 1 month of hangar cost is a couple hours of fuel cost.

i think you are right and it sounds like many of the 'flying car' companies are targeting that, not something that can drive on roads.

I guess because things like the Transition can actually be built with present tech while the other stuff is in the future. They are working on a VTOL the Terrafugia TF X but it's still CGI https://youtu.be/pOr6GBKpg8c?t=55s

Unlike the Transition which is real https://youtu.be/nnF2yua4KIw?t=1m36s

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