# Okay, we've got flying cars. How shall we regulate them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201 "2011-09-13T20:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/21 "2011-09-15T00:12:51Z")
How are the cops going to stop perpetrators from simply flying away, unless the cops are also granted flying cars? Winged cruisers might be the answer. Honestly, I don’t think we could handle having “some” flying cars and “some” driving cars. We can only afford the infrastructure for one or the other. There’s also the problem that currently, people spend very little time looking “up” when crossing the street. So, flying cars become restricted to very tall cages on military bases until flyable-conversion technology is affordable to the masses. This gives us a few decades (at least) to change over our infrastructure and public transportation and traffic laws from roadways to flyaways. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/22 "2011-09-15T01:39:37Z")
When it’s on the road, it drives under current rules. When it’s in the air, it operates under current rules. So no additional laws are needed. ---
**Author:** ![andrew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@andrew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrew_1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/23 "2011-09-15T04:28:55Z")
I’ve always thought, much like with the jet pack, the people that long for flying cars are going to be severely disappointed when they become a possibility for the average Joe to buy and then, almost immediately, are banned or have the shit regulated out of them so hard it becomes far too expensive, risky and irritating to use them. I just can’t see a situation (again, like with a jet pack) where the average man or woman can really be trusted to use them to the extent they aren’t banned or regulated to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/24 "2011-09-15T04:38:12Z")
Flying cars would be impossible, but even if they weren’t, they would have to be banned altogether. They would be dangerous, dirty and logistically impossible to regulate. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/25 "2011-09-15T05:03:20Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Because of the way airspace is set up, I don’t see any way around requiring at least a Private Pilot license. Either that or change our entire air travel system, and good luck getting the FAA to cooperate with that. > > As for the autopilot issue, I’m skeptical of the idea of a completely autonomous system that requires no user input apart from a destination. I don’t know what technology we’re talking about here, but the demands of weather alone would seem to make it unlikely. Even using WAAS augmented GPS guidance (which is accurate to about three meters), I don’t see how a system could autonomously land at the many non-towered airports in the U.S. and elsewhere. There are too many variables. I’m willing to be convinced, but I don’t see it happening even with some of the changes coming down the pike such as ADS-B. I’m assuming VTOL, so there would no need to land at airports. If the autopilot isn’t getting a reliable GPS signal, then the car stays on the ground. There shouldn’t be a manual flying mode at all. The autopilot will hover over the landing spot and ask for manual verification before landing. We might even postulate a radar system to check for obstacles before landing. The Federal Highway System is testing a new system that will be accurate to 10cm. [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/03039/index.cfm](http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/operations/03039/index.cfm) The system would be closer to riding in a cab than flying. If the passenger can’t figure out how to set the destination, then there would be an Onstar button and the operator could set their destination remotely. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/26 "2011-09-15T05:17:08Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I’m assuming VTOL, so there would no need to land at airports. Well, that actually complicates matters. Seems to me if it’s possible to land ANYWHERE it becomes a much bigger problem in terms of traffic control and managing automated landings in unprepared areas. I might be hampered in this exercise by my experience as a pilot because I have a hard time imagining how the present system could adapt to the changes under discussion. However, I do enjoy the thought of scrapping the whole thing and starting over. As long as I can still fly my Lear jet, I’m all for it! ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/27 "2011-09-15T06:17:40Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Well, that actually complicates matters. Seems to me if it’s possible to land ANYWHERE it becomes a much bigger problem in terms of traffic control and managing automated landings in unprepared areas. > > I might be hampered in this exercise by my experience as a pilot because I have a hard time imagining how the present system could adapt to the changes under discussion. However, I do enjoy the thought of scrapping the whole thing and starting over. As long as I can still fly my Lear jet, I’m all for it! As I see it automated aircraft would be under a different system than manually operated aircraft. I was thinking of a single scheme where all aircraft flying on a given heading using use the same altitude and the same velocity. Say all craft would be flying on a heading of 160 would be flying at 1600 feet and 150 mph. That means that all flying cars would be fixed objects in comparison to other flying cars at the altitude and all trips would be a short dogleg. I still haven’t figured out how to handle the flying cars moving to different altitudes. The flying cars would land in the nearest parking lot and road to their parking space. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201/28 "2011-09-15T21:48:47Z")
Rule #1–first moving violation gets your license pulled. And car impounded. _For-Ev-AaAARRRrr!_ Otherwise, we get drunk drivers crashing into skyscrapers. And who the hell is gonna clean up all that broken glass? _Not me!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-weve-got-flying-cars-how-shall-we-regulate-them/596201.md?page=1)