Dude, Where's My Flying Car (and Jetpack, and Robot Armies)?

Flying Car

When Was it Promised: Surprisingly, the idea of a flying car has been around almost as long as the car itself. None other than Henry Ford first tinkered with the idea, attempting to build a “plane car” as early as 1926. Unfortunately, that early prototype crashed and killed its driver. Never a good sign. But Ford stuck with it, and as late as 1940 continued to believe car and plane would one day be joined.

What’s the Holdup: According to Bruce Calkins, general manager of Moller International, which designed the Skycar, the problem has been funding. The technology to make a flying car has been available since after World War II, but there has really been little need for a flying car. Planes were and are better for long distance flight and heavy hauling, and the helicopter has filled in the role of a small aircraft. As a result, there isn’t much of a market left for personal air vehicles, and investment has been hard to come by.

Flying Car [cont.]

"It's more of a financial issue,” said Calkins, “it takes a lot of capital to get a personal air vehicle to market, and the mood is that people want a faster return on their investment than a personal aircraft can offer.”

When Can I Get One: Calkins thinks that public lack of interest is abating. In crowded mega-cities like Mumbai and Mexico City, people have begun refusing to put up with traffic anymore. In fact, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the traffic has gotten so bad, a number of helicopter taxi companies have sprung up, allowing the wealthier citizens to dodge the gridlock.

Prediction: According to Calkins, within 25 years flying cars will be common in traffic-clogged metropolises like Los Angeles and Beijing, but it will be 50 years until you can hail a flying taxi to get across town in a less congested city like Chicago or New York.

[At right: In Terrafugia’s Transition driving airplane, the canard wing doubles as the front bumper.]