May Contain Peanuts

When Cars Fly...

I think we all have the vision of the future where cars are flying around from here to there; highways are actually 'skyways' that have lines of vehicles scooting about in formation and everything runs smoothly. This is the future of transportation, not limited by roads and gravity. It's an idealistic vision, one that encapsulates our hope for technological advancement fully integrated into our daily lives. Well, I hate to be the Debbie Downer of the future coming back to instill doubt and disbelief, but there is no chance flying cars will ever happen. None.

Well, not as we know it. When we think of a car, we think of a vehicle that we pilot to travel from place to place. Driving these cars takes a knowledge of how it works, what pedals and levers do what and how that translates to the vehicle's output. What allows most every competent adult to drive is that these variables only occur in a 2-dimensional field. X and Y. You go forward, you go back, and you turn in between. Gravity does all the work, keeping your Z movement relatively constant according to the ground beneath the tires.

Now, compare this with the knowledge of how to drive (or pilot) a plane. The constant of the Z position is gone. A whole new plane of direction is possible, full 3-dimensional movement. Think now of the amount of traffic accidents and near incidents that happen every day. This happens within the realm of 2d driving. Adding a third dimension of movement would increase these incidents exponentially, simply because of the realm of possibility.

Let's just say for the sake of argument that a flying car would be able to move in said Z axis without worrying about the thrust/lift dynamic. It is capable of hovering and moving up and down with some sort of control. This added maneuverability is great in concept but also allows that much more room for error. Now, instead of just stopping before you hit the car dead ahead, you now must make sure you are aligned properly top to bottom, else that bumper to bumper hit becomes bumper to windshield.

Basically, a 'flying car' would just be far too advanced and prone to error to allow for a simple modification of the system of today's driving. If flying cars or flying personal transportation is to ever happen, the process would need to be fully automated. Automated to take the Z axis back out of the picture. Essentially, the 'flying' becomes a relative position; the road is off the ground and in the air. This, however leaves a bit of a logical gap. The automation process would need to be completed before the cars can fully get off the road and in the sky. But if the automation process is complete, it could be just as easily applied to the cars on the ground. Those 'skyways' of lines of cars are now placed back on the ground, where, again, things are easier to control and maneuver.

It is only when the ground itself becomes an inoperable surface to travel on that the sky becomes useful. This would be the case for over-water travel or for land that is too hospitable for ground travel. The flying cars could become an alternative to building bridges or even boats. But again, this is only possible when the full automation of the vehicles and their lanes of transport are created. Otherwise, we will be sticking to the reliable force of gravity as our co-pilot. We will never get 'flying' cars. We may, however, get 'flying' roads.