# If we have flying cars: how do you think traffic rules would be like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252 "2010-03-04T06:39:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/1 "2010-03-04T06:39:23Z")
One thing for sure - it better to be darn harder to get a license! On a 2D road, there is already enough mayhem just to switch lanes to the left or right, or turning to another road at a junction. With flying cars (pretty much the type you see in Star Wars, Bladerunner or in games like Mass Effect 2), you have up and down to consider, and unless the car is equipped with cameras on the outside, harder to gauge distance and etc. I got to admit though that I can’t drive. So what do you think traffic rules for flying cars would be like? ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/2 "2010-03-04T13:36:29Z")
The same as pilots have now. When pilots go up in aircraft (even private aircraft) they usually follow a system of “roads,” which are predetermined flight plans. I’m not a pilot, but my boss is, and I’ve been up with him in his plane on lengthy flights. Usually air traffic control kept northbound aircraft at one altitude, and southbound aircraft at another. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/3 "2010-03-04T13:52:04Z")
I think would have to be highly automated. If we have the technology to rapidly and cheaply make flying vehicles, we ought to have the know-how to invest in automated navigation with collision avoidance. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/4 "2010-03-04T15:43:14Z")
Rule 1: No two vehicles should try to occupy the same point simultaneously. Rule 2: See Fight Club. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/5 "2010-03-04T16:34:26Z")
There would be “No landing” areas like in _Back to the Future 2_. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/6 "2010-03-04T17:39:32Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I think would have to be highly automated. If we have the technology to rapidly and cheaply make flying vehicles, we ought to have the know-how to invest in automated navigation with collision avoidance. ^^This. Think Jetsons. There is no way in hell you would want to put the average schmo up in the air no matter how easy the thing is to drive. People are bad enough in cars. Imagine them flying willy-nilly all over the place and crashing into power lines and buildings and each other and so on. Would be a nightmare of epic proportions. The only way it would really work, I think, is if the whole thing was completely automated. You set your destination and the flying car just takes you there on its own. Pretty close to such tech today. The care could fly itself and we may be getting more refined GPS soon. So, the issue is not so much the tech but the cost. Getting a flying car that can do all that would probably be ungodly expensive. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/7 "2010-03-04T19:14:05Z")
Pretty much agree with **Whack-a-Mole**. It wouldn’t have to quite that simplified, but you’re telling the flar where you _want_ to go, and it figures out what to do and how to do it safely, based on your _suggestion_. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/8 "2010-03-04T19:31:24Z")
**Ravenman** and **Wack-a-Mole** covered my opinion exactly. By the time we get to the point that flying cars are reliable and affordable, they will have no user controls beyond a keyboard to enter the destination. If you want the model with controls so you can go sightseeing over Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, you go through the same flight training as any other pilot. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/9 "2010-03-04T20:38:48Z")
I envision cars that communicate and negotiate with the other cars in the area. The cars themselves work out how to stay out of each others way. I’d give up my long ago promised flying car if plain old surface cars would do this now. ---
**Author:** ![LunarPlexus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@LunarPlexus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LunarPlexus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/10 "2010-03-04T20:47:53Z")
Somehow bicycles will still manage to garner an unwarranted level of blame for traffic woes. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-we-have-flying-cars-how-do-you-think-traffic-rules-would-be-like/531252/11 "2010-03-05T22:38:58Z")
> [@LunarPlexus](#): > > Somehow bicycles will still manage to garner an unwarranted level of blame for traffic woes. [Short hijack] I would have a bit more sympathy for bicyclists - and I’m speaking as a person who biked to work every day for two years - if I had ever seen more than one _obey the fucking traffic laws!_ Yes, bicyclists, you _do_ have to stop at red lights and stop signs, just like the cars do! Same Road, Same Rules, Same Rights, remember? [Hijack over] I didn’t realize until I started typing this post how angry that makes me…