[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/latest-news\/dont-expect-flying-cars-this-decade-or-ever\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/latest-news\/dont-expect-flying-cars-this-decade-or-ever\/","headline":"Don’t Expect Flying Cars This Decade, Or Ever","name":"Don’t Expect Flying Cars This Decade, Or Ever","description":"It\u2019s time to give up your dreams. Flying cars won\u2019t be in our lifetime. We\u2019ve come close to flying cars. In fact, they already exist in some capacity. So, why don\u2019t we see them in the sky? Because, simply put, the idea is stupid and flawed in infinite ways and once you begin to understand their problems, you begin to wonder why the dream of flying cars is still so alive. Flying cars seem to always play a prime part […]","datePublished":"2020-01-31","dateModified":"2020-02-04","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/author\/matthew-collett\/#Person","name":"Matthew Collett","url":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/author\/matthew-collett\/","identifier":5,"description":"Max Wheeler is a leading motoring journalist and classic car specialist at Smart Motoring, renowned for his sharp insight and infectious passion for all things automotive. With years of experience covering motoring news, supercars, and the enduring legacy of classic cars, Max brings stories to life with style and authority. Whether it\u2019s the roar of a Lamborghini, the elegance of an Aston Martin DB5, or the cultural impact of vintage motoring icons, he delivers expert commentary that inspires enthusiasts and collectors alike. Dedicated to celebrating the heritage and future of driving, Max Wheeler is your trusted voice for classic car news and beyond.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64eca1152247aa111ace79ff1c03782b175df9dc21d2092364ff21e1cf5e38fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64eca1152247aa111ace79ff1c03782b175df9dc21d2092364ff21e1cf5e38fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Smart Motoring","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/smart-motoring_news_logo_g-e1765846726493.webp","url":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/smart-motoring_news_logo_g-e1765846726493.webp","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/PAL-V-Liberty-Flying-Car-Fullsize-feature.jpg","url":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/PAL-V-Liberty-Flying-Car-Fullsize-feature.jpg","height":520,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/latest-news\/dont-expect-flying-cars-this-decade-or-ever\/","about":["BLOG","Cars","LATEST CAR NEWS"],"wordCount":1041,"keywords":["cars","fly cars","Flying cars"],"articleBody":"It\u2019s time to give up your dreams. Flying cars won\u2019t be in our lifetime.  We\u2019ve come close to flying cars. In fact, they already exist in some capacity. So, why don\u2019t we see them in the sky? Because, simply put, the idea is stupid and flawed in infinite ways and once you begin to understand their problems, you begin to wonder why the dream of flying cars is still so alive. Flying cars seem to always play a prime partin our visions of the future, whether it be in a sci-fi blockbuster or at thelatest big car expo event. Cars have been intertwined with flight from a veryearly stage. Even as far back as 1927 during the infancy of the car industry, we learn that Ford showed off their Sky Flivver concept which was a small single-seat aeroplane with a large Ford logo displaying on the side. In 1940, Henry Ford was so bold to say \u201cMark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming.\u201d.Whatever decade you look at, from the 60s tothe 90s to the present, flying cars have always had a presence. In recentyears, the \u2018flying car\u2019 has even materialised as working concepts that couldactually work. Volvo, known to be the safest car manufacturer in the world, created a \u2018Volocopter\u2019 – a VTOL drone-like personal aircraft that uses 18 rotors to carry up to two passengers. It had its maiden flight in 2013 and performed just fine.However, this type of \u2018flying car\u2019 is actuallyincorrectly named as it isn\u2019t a car at all. If anything, it\u2019s just a smallhelicopter.According to Juraj Vaculik, chief executive ofSlovakian startup AeroMobil, roughly 90% of flying car prototypes really aren\u2019tcars at all. A car should be able to drive on a road and also have thecapability of flying, therefore all of the concepts similar to the Volocopterare actually not cars at all. Some better, more car-like flying car concepts include the AeroMobil 3.0, PAL-V and the Terrafugia Transition. These vehicles are designed to both fly in the air and drive on the road. They have wheels, wing mirrors and headlights, unlike the many drone-like creations that have been created by various companies falsely calling them \u2018flying cars\u2019. That being said, it really doesn\u2019t matterwhether these \u2018flying cars\u2019 are just big drones or actually road-legal, becauseboth forms of the idea will never be integrated into our societies. Well, notfor the foreseeable future at least. This is because of the wide range of limiting factors that the concepts cannot avoid. The nature of the idea itself is problematic from the start and I think, it could be another 100 years before this kind of technology actually becomes real and applied in everyday life. Questions such as; who would pilot these cars?Could an ordinary driver attain a license? Would they have to be autopilot andhow would engineers create safe autopilot systems? How would traffic work? Whatif they fell from the sky? What about navigating around tall buildings? Howwould they deal with adverse weather? What about all the noise? What about theadded pollution? How would they be affordable? All of these questions would require an answer\/solution before cars fly. And these questions have just come from the top of my head. If you admire Elon Musk then perhaps he willhelp convince you that flying cars are nothing more than a distant dream. In aninterview with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Musk explained that flying cars would neverwork:“If there are flying cars, then wellobviously you have added this additional dimension where a car couldpotentially fall on your head and would be susceptible to weather,” Musk added, “And of course you’d have tohave a flying car [that operates by] autopilot because otherwise, forgetit.”These are just two of the many problems to the idea but are also two of the biggest. For flying cars to be accepted by government, they would first have to be completely safe and up to the same strict standards that aeroplanes have in place. If not, flying cars would be a plague on our society, causing countless deaths and injuries every day. Ordinary road-going vehicles are already badenough in terms of accidents, so how on earth could the human race be ready forflying cars? And when flying cars crash or malfunction, the potentialcollateral damage will be 100x that of an ordinary car. They won\u2019t simply crashinto a lamppost or just hit another car, they would be falling out the sky,hurtling towards the ground and damaging everything they hit on their way down!Furthermore, as Musk said, the most realistic concept of flying a car would be a self-driving\/self-piloting one. We may as well forget about the idea of driving our own personal flying cars. If our sky really was full of flying, high-speed cars, do you really think the government would let us drive any of them? It just wouldn\u2019t be sensible. Think about how much training a pilot has todo, the fees involved and the rigorous pre-flight checks that are carried outbefore each flight. All of these precautions are put in place just so peoplecan fly planes in a relatively uncrowded airspace. So it seems unrealistic tobe allowed to fly a vehicle in a crowded sky full of flying cars, as seen inStar Wars or Blade Runner. Flying vehicles such as helicopters and planes are also terribly loud, something that is often changed in sci-fi films. Jet engines and rotors make a lot of noise and it will likely be a while before the technology exists to make them much quieter. So this is just another big problem to add to the ever-expanding list. All in all, flying cars are a lie. A lie thatwe have created for ourselves to believe. Or, if you\u2019re more of an optimist,perhaps they are a goal. One that is not quite impossible and with enough hardwork, it could be one that humans achieve.What do you think of flying cars? Pure fairytale or something you think will soon be real?"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Latest News","item":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/latest-news\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don’t Expect Flying Cars This Decade, Or Ever","item":"https:\/\/smart-motoring.com\/latest-news\/dont-expect-flying-cars-this-decade-or-ever\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]