Flying cars could be just around the corner, but will they take off?

It sounds like something about of science fiction, but it's closer to become a reality: Flying cars might be just around the corner.

Image: BAYKAR / HANDOUT

CNN reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has certified for the first time a vehicle capable of flying and traveling on the road back in July.

Image: A scene from the movie Blade Runner

Developed by Alef Automotive, the automobile/aircraft is dubbed ‘Model A’ and can be driven and parked on like a normal car while being able to perform a vertical takeoff and landing.

Image: Alef Automotive

CNN highlights that the Alif Automotive expects to produce and sell each vehicle for 300,000 US dollars by the end of 2025.

Image: Alif Automotive

Alef’s ‘Model A’ is pretty amazing considering that it is able to properly fly in the air, but it still looks and be driven like a normal car and can even park in a regular parking space.

Image: Alif Automotive

Newsweek reports that in October 2022, Alef CEO Jim Dukhovny explained the main challenge to develop a flying car: Wings large enough to carry such a heavy vehicle, but that weren't an obstacle once it hit the road.

Image: Alif Automotive

Alef’s Model A takes a different approach: The whole car becomes the wing, effectively turning it into some kind of biplane.

Image: Alef Automotive

The project began in 2015 and was inspired by the movie 'Back to the Future II', which predicted there would be flying cars by the 2010s.

Image: Universal Studios

However, Alef Automotive are hardly the only players in the flying car game.

Image: Mehdi MeSSrro / Unsplash

In 2021, Chinese automaker Xpeng revealed the Voyager X2 which, according to news website Euronews, it includes an autopilot with Artificial Intelligence.

Europe doesn’t fall behind, either! Dutch company Pal-V developed in 2012 the Liberty, a combination of a three-wheeled car and an autogiro.

Of course, the dream of being able to fly and drive isn’t new. Ever since there are automobiles, people have dreamed of sticking a pair of wings on it.

German inventor Max Valier attempted to develop an alcohol-fueled rocket car with an eye to turn into an aircraft, Valier died in 1930 when his invention exploded in his Berlin laboratory.

In the 1950s, Ford Motors presented the Levecar, a one-person vehicle capable to levitate with pressured air instead of wheels.

Then there are countless science fiction movies, from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' to the latest 'Blade Runner' movie, passing through to 'James Bond' and 'The Fifth Element'. They all show that the dream of the possibility of flying cars is constant and ever present.

Image: A scene from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Business Insider, however, point out the biggest obstacle isn’t technological but of infrastructure. Flying cars would force us to rethink how we plan and design cities and roads. Just imagine having to deal with traffic in three dimensions!

Image: Nick Fewings / Unsplash

Regardless what you think about flying cars, it seems it will take a long time before we live in the world of 'The Jetsons'.