Porsche and Boeing are partnering to develop ‘premium’ electric flying cars

[gnat]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/10/porsc ... ying-cars/

The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry is heating up, with a lot of companies finding dance partners for what looks like could be a boom industry — provided the significant technical and regulatory hurdles still standing in the way of viable commercial consumer air travel are overcome. Now, automaker Porsche is throwing its hat in the ring through a new partnership with Boeing, with the two signing a new memorandum of understanding to work together on developing a concept for a “premium” eVTOL.

This new partnership will explore what a “premium” offering might look like in the era of urban air mobility, including working together on the aircraft design (all the way up to developing and testing an actual prototype), as well as figuring out what the potential market for a premium air service would look like.

The irony is that likely for the foreseeable future, any air mobility service will be “premium” in terms of the cost of access and use. Already, Uber and others have launched short-distance commuter helicopter service for routes connecting busy airport hubs, but the cost of these trips means they’re not alternatives to mass transit arteries connecting cities and airports, for instance.

Still, it sounds like this Porsche and Boeing tie-up anticipates a future where air mobility ranges in terms of price, level of service and access. The automaker cites a study by its own consulting group that found urban air transportation could increase significantly starting at around 2025, which is one reason it’s entering into this deal now.

As poorly as people maintain their cars that can only crash in 2 dimensions, flying cars scare me...

[32wildbilly]

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/10/porsc ... ying-cars/

The electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) industry is heating up, with a lot of companies finding dance partners for what looks like could be a boom industry — provided the significant technical and regulatory hurdles still standing in the way of viable commercial consumer air travel are overcome. Now, automaker Porsche is throwing its hat in the ring through a new partnership with Boeing, with the two signing a new memorandum of understanding to work together on developing a concept for a “premium” eVTOL.

This new partnership will explore what a “premium” offering might look like in the era of urban air mobility, including working together on the aircraft design (all the way up to developing and testing an actual prototype), as well as figuring out what the potential market for a premium air service would look like.

The irony is that likely for the foreseeable future, any air mobility service will be “premium” in terms of the cost of access and use. Already, Uber and others have launched short-distance commuter helicopter service for routes connecting busy airport hubs, but the cost of these trips means they’re not alternatives to mass transit arteries connecting cities and airports, for instance.

Still, it sounds like this Porsche and Boeing tie-up anticipates a future where air mobility ranges in terms of price, level of service and access. The automaker cites a study by its own consulting group that found urban air transportation could increase significantly starting at around 2025, which is one reason it’s entering into this deal now.

As poorly as people maintain their cars that can only crash in 2 dimensions, flying cars scare me...

Hey, it worked for the Jetsons! Porsche M96 experience and Boeing 737Max experience...match made in Heaven. Plus piss poor user maintenance they will be dropping out of the sky like rain drops!

[Kalashnikov]

BA is trying hard to distract from the Dumpster fire that is 737 Max.

Iconic company being destroyed by greed.

[5chn3ll]

I definitely want the people who text while brushing their teeth to be flying instead of just driving.

[Dr_Strangelove]

As someone who loves aviation about as much as cars let me just say that 1) yes the MAX is a dumpster fire of a situation. 2) The issue is as much about training as it is about the aircraft system itself. The system performs as designed. The issue was the fact that these poor guys in 3rd world countries are getting certified on -400 type simulators and being thrown into aircraft with advanced systems they have no idea how TF to operate. Just because the aircraft is called "737" does not mean that a 734 and a 739MAX are remotely the same aircraft. I imagine the puddle of piss Boeing is sitting in smells like "do we train or do we retrofit?"

[Kalashnikov]

I don't know about working as designed. Multiple US pilots said they didn't know about the system. There was one us instance where crash was possible, but there was a senior pilot as a deadhead in the cockpit who knew about MCAS and told the guys flying how to over-ride it.

The analogy pilot made, was your car all of a sudden doing a hard right into the light pole because it tried to avoid a pot hole. And nobody at the dealership told you that car may do that.

[OceanBlue2000]

As someone who loves aviation about as much as cars let me just say that 1) yes the MAX is a dumpster fire of a situation. 2) The issue is as much about training as it is about the aircraft system itself. The system performs as designed. The issue was the fact that these poor guys in 3rd world countries are getting certified on -400 type simulators and being thrown into aircraft with advanced systems they have no idea how TF to operate. Just because the aircraft is called "737" does not mean that a 734 and a 739MAX are remotely the same aircraft. I imagine the puddle of piss Boeing is sitting in smells like "do we train or do we retrofit?"

Here's the best article I think I've seen regarding the MAX. Written by an aviation reporter. Bottom line appears to be that while the system wasn't designed great, properly trained pilots would know how to fix.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/maga ... ashes.html

[Kalashnikov]

2022: PSM, now with augmented input from Boeing.

[5chn3ll]

Works better as a submarine AND a missile than anything Kim's built so far...

[Battery Guy]

Works better as a submarine AND a missile than anything Kim's built so far...

That is funny as shit.