Flying Car: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|You've always known it was just a matter of time before the world demanded some kind of flying machine which would replace the automobile. [...] No matter how you look at it the automobile is only an interim step on [[Evolutionary Levels|our evolutionary path]] to independence from gravity. That's all it will ever be.}}
** Several others have been tried.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20040816075959/http://www.fordpinto.com/mitzar1.htm There was even a flying] [[Every Car Is a Pinto|Pinto]].
** Of course making it fly safely is only the first step, you then have to get FAA approval and find backing. the [[wikipedia:Taylor Aerocar|Taylor Aerocar]] managed the second step, but not quite the third.
* The closest Real Life equivalent to the flying car of science fiction is the helicopter. Unfortunately, they're expensive, hard to fly, and make much more noise than you would want to live next to, which is why the average person doesn't own one.
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* [http://www.terrafugia.com/ This lot] look like they might be close to actually selling [[Transformers|transforming]] flying cars commercially. Hope you have $200,000 on you, though.
** This highlights an interesting, if subtle, distinction between "flying cars" and "road-able aircraft", which is a term you'll often read if studying this topic. The Terrafugia "''Transition''" is an ''airplane'' that happens to have compact, folding wings and the ability to drive on regular roads. You still need to take off and land at an airport, and fly the vehicle like any small plane—but you can ''drive it home'' from the airstrip after you land, too, as if it were a car. (You can also drive ''instead'' of flying if weather conditions are bad). Not quite as glamorous as a full flying car might be -- [[Boring but Practical|but in the end, far more practical.]]
* While other flying car designs are more like "airplanes you can drive on the road", [https://web.archive.org/web/20131107024540/http://www.eaavideo.org/video.aspx?v=635469588001 this I-TEC design] is more like "a car that can also fly". It only gets 40 MPH in the air, but it's pretty speedy on the road (see around 2:50 in the video), and the company seems to have serious plans for what they want to do with it.
* The [[wikipedia:Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar|Avrocar]].
* Volkswagen's China branch appears to have come up with [http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/05/09/volkswagen_s_people_s_car_project_creates_hover_vehicle_concept_video_.html a floating car]. This particular concept car relies on magnetic levitation instead of conventional engines, meaning it'll require a lot of specialized infrastructure to be drivable.
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