In my crystal ball, I can see this. Those little drones that are flying all over the place capturing unique perspective shots are going to be replaced by drone platforms big enough to carry people, and companies are going to spring up all over the world offering drone tours.
Like George Jetson's backpack flying device, people will be able to not only fly but hover at altitude, and no place will be safe from these things just showing up. You could be sitting in your penthouse fifty stories up enjoying the view and.....
"#$&%!! Damn tourists!"
National parks, serene lakes, bucolic countrysides...... ...brace yourselves.
Chittering families will be flying overhead during school break periods, couples will be plying the globe and then afterwards in places that you can't help but overhear they'll be blathering to others about their adventures, and what about that WEIRD guy? Ziplines, helicopter tours, hang gliding, skydiving, paragliding, hot air balloon rides, all of that will be eclipsed by this new technology.
Imagine flying over the Serengeti, hovering over the Grand Canyon, making an ascent alongside Half Dome in Yosemite, flying over a glacier... the possibilites are endless.
Seeing that they no longer have to be confined to the ground, many humans will feel it is their right to take to the skies and demand to have access to this technology, which the developers will make safe enough so the average person can confidently climb into these things and go, like people nowadays simply get into their cars and drive.
Congestion in urban areas and at popular tourist sites will be an issue, and flying permits and limits on air time will be necessary to placate demand.
What could be better than having your own personal drone machine?
Yikes they're everywhere
Jaromir Kavan- Unsplash.com
Already there are startup companies testing out drone air taxis in less stringently controlled airspace regions of the world, and I'm sure the military is keenly at work on developing craft big enough to transport soldiers and their cargo. Knowing how these things tend to play out, the cost of a drone conveyance capable of transporting one or two people, when they appear on the public market, wouldn't be too high, so most people would be able to afford them, and I'm sure there will be drone machines available for rent.
How this plays out is going to be interesting to watch. I see it happening soon and once the first one appears in the neighborhood everybody is going to want one, which I saw happen when I was a kid and the first guy with a snowmobile showed up on the block. Within a year or two they were commonplace.
But, as usual, at first only the rich will have them, which will spur demand, make production increase, and in time drop the price. Many different models with different capabilities will be available.
When that happens, and everybody has one, or has access to one, we'll be able to have bird's eye views of literally everything but I don't think a lot of people (or governments) are ready for that. Airspace over one's house and certain installations is currently considered private. Very private, almost as if there was a fence around it that you can't see.
What is the government going to do about that? Is it a rights issue? And if it's your house, can you do anything about it? What if you're a RENTER?
Plus, since drones can land anywhere, remote physical locations will have people walking around in them, places that you couldn't get to because no roads existed or the roads didn't allow easy access. People will have the run of the earth! The highest, mistiest, mountaintops, the deepest regions of inhospitable deserts, the Amazon river delta......
Forget about driving! The new road trip is coming.