Being that low to the ground seems like it would be a bit suicidal on American roads without a totally protected bike lane. A lot of our ridiculous SUVs would have a bumper right about skull height to that thing.
Yeah there is a reason recumbent bikes have giant flags on the back. No one can see you that low. Especially with the newest giant monstrosities on the road
they can hit a top speed of up to 50 mph (80 kph).
Why do we need to create another industry that's designed to kill people? Don't we have it bad enough with cars and trucks? Now we need these tiny thing on the road going 80km/h with two people in it?
Maybe you missed the article (and the accompanying video), but this trike is about waist high. It doesn't even clear the front height of a sedan, let alone be visible to someone in an SUV or pickup truck going at near highway speeds.
I wouldn't consider this safe, unless it had a huge flag on it, similar to what you see on recumbent bicycles. Motorcycles with a rider on them are at least significantly taller and more visible compared to this thing.
Even then I see a lot of problems, and at least 3 of them are cost. I could maybe see a step down (more of a slowfall type thing negating body weight and using jumping) but even then I don't see that working well where all the land is owned (also: wires, momentum), and electric paragliding might be the more realistic today option (that probably isn't all that practical either).
Sticking to the ground just makes more sense, heck for the brief moment when I had my legs not-fully-out-of-shape from riding my geared 250w ebike regularly (and after recovering from a 22 mile trip) I was wondering if a motor is even (fully) needed (assuming I could get a tri-fold knockoff or used minivelo for cheap for less weight... and possibly slightly smaller though my ebike is already 20" wheels thus a similar size category). And note I do have health issues (I still might want an ebike on a hot and sunny day, assuming a lighter bike is not a massive difference)
I have a camera drone, and they've become so easy to fly. They're super stable. I can imagine that flying in a human-sized one must be really fun. I've been in helicopters a ton of times, and they seem so complicated to fly. This would be a world of difference.
Somehow, the idea of amateur pilots doesnt fit well with giant carbon fibre propellers directly inline with the human. This thing seems like an absolute deathtrap.
I wonder if something like AI pilot lanes would work if network connection fails it uses LIDAR to auto land like drones. Wouldn't work over cities though.
On the other hand thinking about all the vehicle traffic being electric flying vehicles and being able to walk/bike/breathe outside without worried about being squished. Being able to use all those roads for real vehicles.
autoevolution.com
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