Is there a market for this Slovakian aerocar technology?

[RVtitem]

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The world's most advanced flying car, AeroMobil 3.0, was unveiled today at Pioneers Festival in Vienna. WIRED first got its eyes on an AeroMobil prototype only a few months ago, at which point the unveiling the 3.0 model was slated for next year. But ahead of schedule, WIRED.co.uk has now seen AeroMobil 3.0 in person, which has folding insect-like wings and a spacecraft-cum-sportscar cockpit not only in the flesh, but in flight, thanks to footage released by the team today.
AeroMobil 3.0 - official videoAeroMobil   

"We get lots of offers from auto shows," says AeroMobil co-founder Juraj Vaculik. "We decided pioneers festival is so right for us." As much as they are designers and engineers, Vaculik and his partner Stefan Klein are also entrepreneurs, and their projects have been primarily self-funded.

Behind the development of the AeroMobil is the idea that people should be able travel freely, but the Vaculik says they have also been inspired by the idea they can free people from the "daily prison we are all in" -- that is the "traffic jam prison" and the "airport prison". This statement provides insight into the two primary applications of the vehicle -- overcoming traffic- and airport-related problems -- but there is a third, not entirely unrelated application too.

"There are still a lot of countries where there is not an infrastructure," says Vaculik. Only three percent of the world has paved road and the AeroMobil team believes they have built the kind of vehicle capable of overcoming problems caused by lack of this infrastructure in many places.

One of the key features of the AeroMobil 3.0 is that it is fully capable of making use of existing infrastructure for both planes and cars. It only needs a grass strip of around 250 metres to take off and 50 metres to land. The vehicle has undergone rigorous testing and has even undertaken its maiden flight.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/29/aeromobil-3-0

[RVtitem]

This seems like a good solution to our daily traffic problems and may be a future competitor to Google's driver-less spyware.

[MOON Ki]

This seems like a good solution to our daily traffic problems and may be a future competitor to Google's driver-less spyware.

Not really.   The thing does not take off and land vertically.     So the first thing one has to think of is where to find some sort of runways, however short.      That's not going to easy in the places that have traffic problems.

Actually, the first thing to think of is cost.  Relatively few people will be able to afford it and even so be  in a position to think of switching from cars.   of course, if more could afford it, you'd just end up with another type of traffic problem.

The statement that "There are still a lot of countries where there is not an infrastructure," ignores certain practical realities.    Excluding remote and poorly inhabited areas---where investment might not be considered worthwhile, even in well-run countries---a lack of infrastructure tends to reflect a certain level of developmental backwardness.   That's hardly the sort of place for such things.

Summary: a nice toy for the very rich; it's still matatus  the rest of us.

[Olekoima]

Might be a good solution to bandit prone areas where vehicles are often ambushed.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

There is no market for it.  It's not practical for anything.  You need a huge driveway and runway in your backyard to take off and land.  It's more like drive-able glider/car.

When would one use it?  The same time they will likely get in their glider or tiny aeroplane.  A good example of just because you can make it does not mean it is useful.

[MOON Ki]

Might be a good solution to bandit prone areas where vehicles are often ambushed.

In that case why would you want something that was half a car?   Why not a helicopter?   And considering the terrain in "bandit-prone areas" all over the world, can you see that thing being driven around? It's actually funny to read that something which is being sold as half a car (i.e. to be driven) will be great in places where there no paved or other decent roads!   Too many engineers, not enough bright folks in the marketing department ...

Anyway, people have been trying this sort of thing for a long time, starting with the Fulton Airphibian around 1950.  It was actually a neat idea: you fly to an some place, lose half the thing, and drive off in a car; or your drive to someplace, attach the plane end, and fly off.

[TrueRV]

Looks like the Mobilcar was being remotely flown by the other plane running next to it. NASA is known to remotely bring their spacecrafts when they are landing