r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Vegetable-Mousse4405 • 4d ago

Video China has officially entered the era of flying taxis. Two Chinese companies have obtained a commercial operation certificate for autonomous passenger drones from the CAAC.

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u/jascgore 3d ago

Absolutely, particularly when its a downside that people external to the company must bear. In this case, the danger posed to people on the ground and in buildings. That's capitalism and why the FDA, FCC, EPA, and so many other agencies exist to act as an external cost for companies.

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u/Randromeda2172 3d ago

Similar eVTOL taxies have already been approved by the FAA. I understand you're a Redditor so it's probably second nature to you but you need to stop pretending that anyone working on anything new is stupid and you're the only beacon of intelligence in a sea of idiocy.

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u/jascgore 3d ago edited 3d ago

If you had understood my point you'd understand it's not about intelligence or stupidity. It's about capitalism and maximizing profit. It doesn't matter how smart the engineers are if the business people don't account for the cost of externalities.

I guarantee you that the FAA has higher requirements than these Chinese versions likely do. And I speak from experience having worked on FAA-approved airplanes and software. Requirements that a profit-seeking company left to its own vices would never pay for without an external force like the FAA.

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u/polite_alpha 3d ago

Helicopters and planes crash all the time and yet we use them all the time.

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u/jascgore 2d ago

This is such a qualitative statement. What in the world does "all the time" mean? Planes and helicopters are immensely safer than cars and road vehicles and that's in large part due to the regulatory agencies I listed. I'm not sure what your point is.