Your Flying Car Isn't Coming But This Wonderful Concept Is
For years now, the hottest candidate to become the real, practical flying car that we've always wantedand that Popular Mechanics has always hoped forhas been the Terrafugia Transition, a car/plane built by MIT alums with a proposed price tag of $279,000. This month, Terrafugia unveiled the concept for its successor, the TF-X.
The TF-X would have twin propeller pods that point skyward during takeoff and landing, but stow during driving or the cruising period of a flight. The navigation would be autonomous; just tell the flying car where you want to go and it takes you there. And the four-seater is hybrid: An electric motor would give way to a 300-hp gas engine once the aircraft is in flight. Terrafugia says it could fly up to 200 mph with a 500-mile range.
We can't wait for this concept to become reality. But you're still not getting a flying carnot in a Jetsons sense, anyway. We've covered a more complete discussion of the economic, regulatory, and cultural forces working against Terrafugia. But the quick version remains the same: Good cars make for bad planes; good planes make for bad cars. And other than sci-fi novelty, there isn't much reason to want a craft that can do both but isn't great at either.