Another day, another self-flying car pipe dream surfaces

Audi and Airbus are pondering a self-driving car that can also fly, according to the latest Ripley* statement from a hype-filled sector. The "entirely electric, fully automatic concept" of a "horizontal and vertical mobility" vehicle is just a pipe dream for now, though it might pave the way for a tangible product much, much …

[hplasm]

Audi self driving flying car.

You had me after self-driving Audi.

Please do not allow manual override.

Flying is a bonus.

[Oh la la...]

That's all we need

Will a flying Audi also be designed to fly as close as possible to the flying car in front whilst flashing its headlights in an aggressive manner, before overtaking on the left??

[Rich 11]

Re: That's all we need

And driven by a bloke named Gene.

[Francis Boyle]

Re: That's all we need

And driven by a bloke named Gene.

You mean this collaboration isn't being called "Project Gene". And will turn out to be all a demented fantasy.

And since the resulting vehicle will almost certainly have four rotors they have to call it a Quattro" won't they.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's all we need

"before overtaking on the left"

If you were driving on the left, instead of hogging an outside lane, then perhaps this wouldn't happen?

[K]

Re: That's all we need

There is never any justifiable reason to overtake/undertake on the left (For non-UK readers, swap Left with Right!).. it's stupid, dangerous and more likely to get you kill.

Likewise, If some person is sitting in the outside lane, doing 50Mph and they can move over, then flash them... If they don't move over, then report them to the police for dangerous or hazardous driving.

[MK_E]

Re: That's all we need

You shouldn't ever pass somebody on the inside.

This is because it shouldn't be possible to pass somebody on the inside.

If it is possible for you to pull over to the inside lane, pass the vehicle that is currently occupying the outside lane, and return to the outside lane, without cutting into their braking distance or placing the inside lane's traffic within your braking distance, then whatever vehicle you are passing is in the wrong lane.

If it is ever physically possible for someone to safely pass YOU on the inside, pull the hell over until you're actually ready to pass.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: That's all we need

You shouldn't ever pass somebody on the inside

Unless you are on a bike of some sort. See my comment above.

[Santa from Exeter]

Re: That's all we need

Whilst you are technically correct I have lost count of the number of times that I pass CLOC* members in the outside lane of a motorway whilst doing 70MPH, only to have an Audi undertake both of us at 90+ in the inside lane.

*Centre Lane Owners Club, according to a Motorway Copper I know :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's all we need

Looks like the Audi to Peugeot ratio on this site is around 8:25 judging by my earlier comment :-)

[John Riddoch]

Re: That's all we need

"There is never any justifiable reason to overtake/undertake on the left"

Wrong. Read your Highway Code. There are at least two viable examples I can recall cited as valid reasons to pass on the left.

[F0rdPrefect]

Re: That's all we need

K, Try driving on the M25.

I regularly am pottering along in lane 1 (the left lane) and going faster than the nose to tail traffic in lanes 3 and 4.

Should I slow down so that I don't pass the idiots? Or just continue driving with the HGVs?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's all we need

If they don't move over, then report them to the police for dangerous or hazardous driving.

I must admire the charming naïvety of that line - as if they would do anything with it. Unless reducing bad lane discipline gives them government points they'll more or less politely take your details and ignore whatever you reported before you have even left the station or put the phone down. I'm not saying they would not WANT to follow up, but it appears we want these people to do everything on 1/10th of the budget they need to do their job and something has to give.

Nowadays it appears more effective if you post any dashcam footage online as that causes embarrassment by both police and lane hogger. Not that I like it, but if your aim is to make at least something happen, that seems to be the way now.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: That's all we need

There is never any justifiable reason to overtake/undertake on the left

..unless you are on a motorbike and filtering[1] between two lines of cars. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, I've had morons in cars get so enraged at the prospect that they've moved over to try to block me[2] but, in general, it's one of the major advantages of being on a bike in traffic.

Sadly, I can't ride a bike any more because of arthritis - not unless I spend lots of money on the brake and clutch levers.

[1] Lane-splitting in the US. Here, it's entirely legal and allowed in the Hoghway[3] Code. And the majority of people are not bothered (and a minority - including me - having been on the other side of things, make space for the bike to pass easily)

[2] What the idiots don't understand is that, if they've moved over to try and block me, is that there's a much wider gap that they have left on the other side. And, given that a bike is much more manouverable than a car, it just means that I'll cross behind them and pass on the open side. With a jaunty wave :-)

[3] Entirely amusing mis-speelink. So left untouched..

[Steve Knox]

Re: That's all we need

"before overtaking on the left"

If you were driving on the left, instead of hogging an outside lane, then perhaps this wouldn't happen?

You're assuming OP wasn't driving on the left already.

Here in the States, the analogue is Massachusetts drivers -- they'll pass you on the right -- while you're changing a tire...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate the idiots who sit in the passing lane

I pass many cars for every one that passes me, but I never stay in the passing lane when the "slow" lane is clear. That's actually illegal in most US states, and IMHO should be illegal everywhere.

Between lazy fools who like to stay in the passing lane because they can't be bothered to watch for cars coming down ramps that will require them to move over, and the self appointed speed enforcers who think driving the speed limit gives them the right to squat in the passing lane indefinitely, there are way too damn many people who think they drive safely but do not.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Hate the idiots who sit in the passing lane

In Canada the "slow" lane has a nasty habit of turning into exits or disappearing with very little notice into non-existence.

http://i.imgur.com/b8F11b5.png

[Anonymous Coward]

"before overtaking on the left??"

Well, it's actually perfectly legal here...

"whilst flashing its headlights in an aggressive manner"

That's why planes have strobe lights, isn't it??

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Audi overtaking on the left?

You must have been behind me as I travelled east along the A12 last friday morning. There was plenty of room to overtake on the right but no... We were just passing a junction and the Audi swung into the sliproad and went past me on the left. At the same time he flashed his lights, sounded his horn and gave me the finger. All because I was driving at 60mph and not 100mph.

[jeffdyer]

Ripley's is a 'merkin franchise, not a London biz.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2yVZCVLK3E

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

What is lock ness? The suitability of a lock to its task?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

I get to reference one of my favourite films and I get a downvote, Who knew?

[handleoclast]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

I get to reference one of my favourite films and I get a downvote

Perhaps because people expected the clip to be funny or otherwise entertaining. Or even relevant, in some way, to the article.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

@handleoclast

Sure lets go with irrelevance as the article references Ripleys believe it or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo4xAKY7K6k

[Teiwaz]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

I get to reference one of my favourite films and I get a downvote, Who knew?

Someone mentioned funny, entertaining or relevant.

Otherwise the 'librarians' hanging around will make their own entertainment with whatever's handy, like spelling errors.

[RJG]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

It is the lock on the caledonian canal leading to loch Ness.

The English seem to think a monster lives in the lock.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Jack the ripper was the lock ness monster. Fact.

The English seem to think a monster lives in the lock

S/English/gullible idiots/g *

(Of course, that class may well include people of the English persuasion. Idiocy has no nationality..)

[Neil 32]

Magical screen

That grows 7" between sub-head and article body!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Magical screen

Vulture Central may have equaled Vulture South for featuring a story with 49inch screen, but Vulture South managed to get one in...

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/05/samsung_chg90_49_inch_monitor_review/

[Blockchain commentard]

You need to get on my flying pig ro reach this pie in the sky !!!

[Jemma]

You know...

I've always wondered where you fit the starting handle on a flying pig...?

still, it could be worse, it could be a coffman starter...

"I'm going to do this one with the ignition off to clear the cylinders..."

*baconsplosion*

[WolfFan]

Re: You know...

I've always wondered where you fit the starting handle on a flying pig...?

Depends. Is it a flying boar or a flying sow?

[Chris G]

Re: You know...

If these flying pigs come with flight programming or radio control, I'm in!

I have a few jobs needing doing that would be perfect for a flying pig.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: You know...

I have a few jobs needing doing that would be perfect for a flying pig.

Especially about 4 hours after they have eaten all the curry leftovers?

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: You know...

"The Flight of The Phoenix" (Original).

[Anonymous South African Coward]

Re: You know...

Have read the book ages ago, and it was a most fascinating read for a younger me.

[steelpillow]

Earliest flying car

Well, Popular mechanics can't be believed. Henson and Stringfellow's Aerial Steam Carriage was not a f lying car but a fixed-wing aeroplane, it had no road capability. The earliest I know of is that of Gustave Whitehead, born Gustav Weisskopf, who is best known for his supporters' claim that he flew before the Wright brothers, around 1901. The contentious machine was actually a flying car with folding wings and Whitehead drove it to its intended takeoff site. What happened next depends on whose side you are on...

[JeffyPoooh]

Yay !! I've already placed my order !!

My order of an extra-large cartridge of 'Audi-Airbus Entirely Electric Fully Automatic Horizontal and Vertical Mobility Vehicle' paste for my 3D Printer is on the way!!

It's supposed to be here Real Soon Now.

[Daedalus]

Obstacles

The obstacles to flying cars have little to do with licensing. Everything that makes a car a good car makes it a lousy aircraft. Everything that makes an aircraft a good aircraft makes it a lousy car.

[Mark 85]

Re: Obstacles

Reminds of the amphibious cars they used to sell decades ago. Minor things like doors created problems for the car part (no doors) and doors would cause problems for the boat part (leaks). Propulsion was a mechanical nightmare. I saw one as a kid and watched it slowly sink in the lake and wondered why would anyone try to combine two vehicles into one?

[WolfFan]

Re: Obstacles

Amphibious trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles have a specific military use: logistical support over both water and land. They're not so good at assaulting across water, as they lack armor and serious weapons, but once a beachhead is secure, they can move supplies and personnel over water and inland quite efficiently. Amphibious trucks also have specific civilian uses: number one is tourism in certain precise situations. There are amphibious trucks set up as passenger vehicles providing tours of places like the Everglades in Florida and sections of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Delaware. Number two is operating as ferries in more remote areas, where the military nature of the truck part becomes very useful. (many such ferries are descendants of the US Army's DUKW 6x6 amphibious truck, which saw duty in Europe starting in June 1944 and later in the Pacific and then in Korea and Vietnam.) Because of the heavy-duty truck systems, they can and will operate on very poor road surfaces. Number three is operating as emergency rescue vehicles for coastal, riverine, and such duties. Those vehicles can get to places where neither boats nor ordinary land vehicles, except for hovercraft, which are much more expensive, can go. Number four is as a vehicle for use in hunting in remote areas. They are expensive, but, like the rescue vehicles, can get into places that boats and ordinary land vehicles cannot.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Obstacles

many such ferries are descendants of the US Army's DUKW 6x6 amphibious truck

And still as crap as they were first time round, to judge by serious and sometimes fatal incidents in Philadelphia, Arkansas, Seattle, Ontario, Liverpool and London.

[WolfFan]

Re: Obstacles

many such ferries are descendants of the US Army's DUKW 6x6 amphibious truck

And still as crap as they were first time round, to judge by serious and sometimes fatal incidents in Philadelphia, Arkansas, Seattle, Ontario, Liverpool and London.

In large part that is because the drivers of those things tend to behave as if it were a car on land, when it is a truck and if you don't treat it as a truck, there will be tears. On the water it's a boat with very low freeboard and a very low speed.

Military amphibious truck drivers get trained in first how to drive a truck and then how to drive a slow, small, boat with limited freeboard. If amphibious trucks are operated correctly, they are (relatively) safe. If they are treated as a car which floats, they are accidents waiting to happen. They have high centers of gravity when on land, which means they will roll. Fatalities have occurred when some amphibious trucks rolled. Fatalities have occurred when some amphibious trucks were used in heavy surf. Problems have occurred when amphibious trucks were used in the wrong conditions, such as when the ground is too muddy and soft for their wheels to gain traction, but isn't fluid enough to allow the vehicle to be used as a boat. Indirect fatalities have occurred, mostly due to the vehicle's operators doing something else stupid after being stupid enough to take the truck into conditions where it got stuck.

[GruntyMcPugh]

Re: Obstacles

... aaaaah, like the Dutton Amphibious,.... crap little car, ... horrid little boat,.. but maybe, just maybe, all it needs is wings. And a catapult.

[Grikath]

Re: Obstacles

People always forget the biggest and most lethal ( from a practical point of view) problem: The. Damned. Noise.

[TrumpSlurp the Troll]

Re: Obstacles

With you all the way on that.

Trying to picture a Microlight with full crash protection to Euro NCAP 5* rating.

Wings? Will it fit in a Lidl parking space?

I really am struggling to visualise a vehicle with the footprint of, say, an Audi A4 which can safely take off and land and also achieve 50 mpg or better on a long run.

Looks like you need the functionality of a helicopter without that big whirly thing that can hurt people extending beyond the vehicle footprint and a failsafe landing system good when the power train has an issue.

I seem to think that the regular servicing requirements for flying things are more onerous than for driving things as well.

[joeldillon]

Used to be? Ripley's Believe It or Not is still there, last I heard...

[Simon Harris]

http://ripleyslondon.com/

The London one is closed, apparently while they "actively search for a new location". You'll have to go to another country now, or Blackpool (which some may consider to be another country) if you want to find a Ripley's.

[Kaltern]

Sigh.

How long is it going to be before these 'manufacturers' realise that 100% self driving/flying vehicles are simply NOT going to happen any time soon? It almost seems to me that these guys are playing a 'me too' PR game, somehow believing they're going to be left out of some juicy profiteering.

Level 5 self-driving automobility is nothing more than a pipedream. The only way it could ever work is if every single vehicle on the road was also automated, and linked to the same network. And even then, they just cannot work reliably in urban settings, as has been shown countless times. Roads would need to be 100% pedestrian free, and only 4+ wheeled vehicles need apply.

This is all happening far too soon. Pushing tech that isn't ready is simply going to cause more problems that it might have solved. Come back when every vehicle on the road is electric, and all self-driving system developers are co-operating with each other.

[handleoclast]

Re: Sigh

How long is it going to be before these 'manufacturers' realise that 100% self driving/flying vehicles are simply NOT going to happen any time soon?

They already know, and have known for many years.

How long will it be before you realize the publicity value of announcements like these? :) Think "brand awareness." Think "people talking about the stupid idea in the pub."

Every so often a particularly annoying advert appears in the media. People complain, the company apologizes and says it never intended the advert to be annoying. Except for once, when one company admitted the advert was intended to be annoying. Because a large proportion of the market consists of stupid people. Stupid enough that, although the advert annoys them, the next day in the supermarket they remember the brand name but not the reason why they remember it, so purchase the product when they see it.

Audi just got a load of brand awareness for very little cost. So did Airbus, although it will probably gain them little unless a few Saudi princes have a chat about the advert.

[GruntyMcPugh]

Re: "NOT going to happen any time soon"

... we've had a bit of snow in the UK recently, and the other week when I set off for work, as I start early, I was first to leave my street, and I really don't think an AV would have made it. The snow covered all of the roads and pavement, making it difficult to see the edge, and some signs were obscured, it was a white out. I know the area, and therefore could use an offset to judge where the road was in relation to the footpath etc, I knew railings at the crossing denoted where I should stop before the ASL for bikes,.... but AVs don't 'know' anything, they are reactive, and I don't think they'll be good enough until we get AI, or like you say, everything on the road is broadcasting it's 20 and vital statistics.

[Tigra 07]

The reason it'll never happen...

It's bad enough when a car hits a lamp post or your garden wall. Now imagine the damage when they're crashing into skyscrapers and people's bedrooms.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

Just think, instead of worrying about teenagers crashing your party because your idiot child advertised it on Facebook, you can worry about teenagers literally crashing your party in a flying car!

And you really should read the news of the first fatality (a non-passenger, that is) by a self-driving car.

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/tempe/tempe-police-investigating-self-driving-uber-car-involved-in-crash-overnight

[Jemma]

Re: Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

I shouldn't worry inbredneck - I'm sure your teenage daughter will be on the Bofors* quad and banging away before they even know what's hit them.

That's of course assuming she hasn't had her brains splattered up the wall because she wouldn't give her little brother the Xbox controller.

I've watched Drawn together and Squidbillies and the like, and I know they're supposed to be parodies but life is imitating art a little too closely if you ask me.

As to autonomous cars. I think they're a brilliant idea to solve the world's problems. Here's how.

Make up a couple of million autonomous systems.

Go to India

Buy up every single Austin A55, Hindustan Ambassador, Contessa and other clapped out, crumple zone free, drum braked heap you can get hold of.

Add autonomous systems to above and solder as necessary (be aware positive earth might let the magic smoke out).

Transport same to the US.

Start em up (the funny pull control with the cross pattee markings is called a Choke.. You'll find it helps)

Let the splatter commence..

Could even televise it..

Redneck Wars... Phillipa Forester and Craig David.. Career resurrection part infinity.

Best of all they'll probably still be running leaded heads so they'll eventually give up the ghost after a few months of massacring.

I am *so* happy I'm not an American parent right now because if the kids have any level of functional IQ they're going to realise that it's their parents, grandparents collective fault that they're getting riddled at school/home/gym/delete as applicable.

I'm just waiting for the day some kid opens up on a funeral for a school shooting - that'll be the day when the rest of the world needs to have a serious think about some pest control.

*fer duck huntin'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

Your vast list of false assumptions, not to mention that you are someone who should never be given access to weapons of any kind, concisely demonstrates why most people despise liberals.

[Jemma]

Re: Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

You sub average cretin.

I don't WANT, nor do I in any way need to have access to guns.

There is precisely zero reason for me to have access to guns. The reason for this is so very simple even you can understand it.

No one else has a gun. Apart from farmers, sport shooters, and gun club patrons. ALL OF WHICH ARE LOCKED AWAY and controlled by law.

Were I to have a child - there is less than a 0.0001% chance that one of their classmates will be carrying or have access to a gun. American school it is over 100% statistically (for access to a gun) since by your own government stats there are 101 redneck bang sticks for every human being in the United States, and thats just the legal registered ones.

FFS just today a 9 year old boy blew his 13 year old sisters brains out in an argument about a game controller. Mississippi if you are curious.

I'm not even going to waste my time. Because none of you see anything wrong with the above paragraph.

But be aware you are really lucky I'm not Prime Minister because the next time a British citizen got shot by some gap brained US retard I'd be on the phone to ole Vlad buying up every pallet of Novichok he's got in the store and practicing the phrase "omlettes and eggs" as the missiles launched.

I'm sick to death of listening to screeds of names killed by idiots supported by bigger idiots and I'm even sicker of you backing terrorism in the UK (IRA) and stirring it up overseas so we get the benefit (7/7).

Note to past, present and future American presidents. THE TERMS CRUSADES, CRUSADERS and anything associated with same shall not be mentioned on pain of you having a large sharpened stake rammed up your ass with extreme prejudice (and no lubricant) - upon which you will be left to think it over while you slowly slide down it under your own (over)weight. Although on the subject of lubricant.. KY and jalapeño oil is tempting.

Do I sound upset? I want to sound upset..

[Jemma]

Re: Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

Corrected: 101 redneck bang sticks for every 100 humans. Which is bad enough..

[ecofeco]

Re: Hope they're restricted to Silicon Valley and other liberalvilles

There is nothing liberal about Silly Valley.

[User McUser]

NOT a flying car...

Audi and Airbus are pondering a self-driving car that can also fly

[...]

"The ultra-light, two-seater passenger cabin can be attached either to a car module or to a flight module.

So NOT a flying car but instead a box that you sit inside that is then either put into a car or put into an airplane. By that logic it is also a boat, a train, a horse-drawn carriage, a semi-truck, and a helicopter - just put the box inside any of those things.

A flying car is one that will drive along the road and then start flying without swapping out parts.

[John H Woods]

Re: NOT a flying car...

"a box that you sit inside that is then either put into a car or put into an airplane. By that logic it is also a boat, a train, a horse-drawn carriage, a semi-truck, and a helicopter - just put the box inside any of those things."

Yep - it might as well be a TEU - at least the infrastructure is already there.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: NOT a flying car...

Sounds more like something Gerry Anderson would have come up with.

[Anonymous Coward]

First they need to make safe AVs

As we see with Uber's first fatality yesterday from an AV, the wild west mentality is going to get people killed long before AV's are safe and reliable. To add a flight option to AVs is certainly possible but it would not be so wise as to have AVs falling out of the sky. No one should be allowed to fly an autonomous vehicle without full aviation training and licensing. Just imagine what it's going to be like when commercial and military aircraft need to avoid AVs improperly flying in airport and other restricted areas like military bases, etc. The carnage has just begun.

[ravenviz]

touch function

Does it prod you if you start to fall asleep?

[Anonymous Coward]

VAG flying cheat device

Will this "flying" vehicle just be a car with overactive suspension?

[Anonymous South African Coward]

Audi - Vorsprung durch [________]*

*insert favourite word/catchphrase here.