Larry Page’s startups working on flying cars
Helicopters and small planes already exist.  We might have autonomous helicopters and small planes in the future, but flying car concept is flawed and  not because it's hard to build one.<p>- Preflight checks and flight safety. Larry  should first build normal small aircraft that can do without constant manual checks before flight.  This is actually good subgoal to work with even without flying cars in mind. Reliable infrastructure that checks and calibrates instruments so reliably that you don't need manual checks would be revolution in aerospace.  Just walking from your car into your future Cessna-Android  and flying off would be sci-fi for  aviators.<p>- Energy consumption. No matter how energy efficient the engines are, hovering  and short takeoffs use lots of energy. Flying with small wings with little lift is equivalent to driving  monster trucks in full power. You don't want flying becoming everyday phenomenon until we have abundance of carbon free energy.<p>- Noise and safety regulations, aviation regulations over urban areas. Flying cars are not happening in the suburbs or anyone where lots of people live. In the meantime try to get new helicopter landing sites approved in your neighborhood. If you have to take car to your flying car hangar, just have a small plane instead. Or walk to a buss station.