Since my childhood I always dreamed to have a flying car some day. Many movies like „Back to the Future“ by Robert Zemeckis or „The Fifth Element“ by Luc Besson had strengthen my believe that to have a flying car is quite awesome. I’m surely not the only one who has this wish. Every prediction of the future since the 1940s had to mention flying cars. Many of the technical stuff that was predicted besides we are already have - such as self-driving cars like the Google car or intelligent machines like the IBM Watson - but what about flying cars?
I had done some research and can tell you now: flying cars will come sooner that you might think. They will become commonplace in the next five to ten years. Serious.
So, let's have a look at the past and present flying car projects to prove that prediction:
Flying Car projects in the past and near future
1947: ConvAirCar, Model 118
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The first flying car was - umm, well… a car with wings. It flew only once and was totally destroyed when trying to land. More about it here.
1949: Taylor Aerocar
(Source: Chris857 CC 3.0 BY-SA)
The second flying car did not flown in the first version of 1949, but later versions did fly. It was pictured as Franz in the Disney movie „Planes“. Three years ago a Taylor Aerocar was sold for US$ 1 million. More about it here.
Since 2003: Moller SkyCar
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Probably the first concept of a flying car that is capable of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) is the Moller SkyCar, which is in development since the 1960s. But, unfortunately, it can only fly in theory. I practice, no Moller SkyCar had ever flown in free flight. But Paul Moller will not give up his dream to build a flying car.
2009: Terrafugia Transition
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This one does not really look like a car, but it can drive on streets and it can fly. So it's actually a flying car. The Terrafugia Transition costs US$ 279,000 and was build yet only two times. More about it here.
2014: AeroMobil 3.0
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Build by a Slovakian company the Aeromobil 3.0 is still in development, but mastered serveral test flights. The company plans to bring the Aeromobil 2018 into the market.
2026: Terrafugia TF-X
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This model is yet still in early stages of development. When it comes the market in 2026 it should cost US$ 120,000 and will carry 4 persons over 804 km (500 miles) with 322 kmh (200 mph). This video explains the concept of this flying car:
????: Zee / Kitty Hawk
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In 2010 a startup with the name Zee began its secret developments near the headquarters of Google in Mountain View. Patent fillings showed that it aims to develop an all-electric vehicle that can start and land vertically - so actually a flying car. Later it turned out, that the Google co-founder Larry Page personally founded Zee. As BloombergBusinessweek revealed in a cover story in June 2016, Zee is not the only startup of Larry Page, that wants to build a flying car. Under the name Kitty Hawk another startup founded by Larry Page is on this mission. BloombergBusinessweek cited Mark Moore, an aeronautical engineer, with the words:
„Over the past five years, there have been these tremendous advances in the underlying technolgy. Waht appears in the next 5 to 10 years will be incredible.“
Other projects worth to mention
Besides these projects there are many more, that aim to revolutionize the personal air transportation. Like the Lilium Jet:
the Volocopter:
or the EHang 184:
Flying cars will come in the next five to ten years
Why do I believe that now has come the time for flying cars? Because the two preconditions to build them are now given:
1. Technology: Thanks to the development of driverless cars, private air travel could be done now much saver than ever before. Also we had seen tremendous progress in drone technology, high capacity batteries, cheaper carbon fibers and other tech that is needed for flying cars.
2. Capital: With a billionaire like Larry Page there is now the capital backing for developing a real flying car. Like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are pushing the private space industry, Larry Page will pushing the new industry of flying cars.