Updated On: 16 February 2017

Flying car is a personal vehicle that is capable of door-to-door aerial transport conceptually without the need of special take-off and landing as is required in an aircraft while also providing the comfort of a roadable car. Though the concept seems to be a workable one but bringing it on the commercial front has been very challenging task and a surprising number of companies have been working to bring up an acceptable model.

Below you will find all updates about Flying Cars. You can simply jump to particular section, if you are looking for by using the below links:

Various Companies Working On Flying Cars

Terrafugia, AeroMobil, PAL-V One, Moller International, Zee.Aero and Urban Aeronautics are among the few well-known names in this regard who are trying to make future Flying Cars real one day. Volkswagen, Toyota are the established mobile companies that have also been working on the concept of Flying Car. Besides, there are others like NASA, US military backed organisations that are working on to bring up a flying car that can serve civilian as well rescue operations needs.

1. Terrafugia:

Terrafugia, founded by MIT Grads is a Boston-based company that is expected to launch the Transition Model by 2017 after testing to check meeting standards for air and road safety underlined by Federal Aviation Regulatory body.

The company has already received about 100 pre-orders on Transition mode after announcing launch in upcoming years in December 2011. Besides the next generation model Terrafugia TF-X would also be developed with increased automation and scheduled for commercial availability after ten years post its debut in 2017 if it undergoes all tests successfully.

2. Aeromobil:

Aeromobil, a Slovakian company has come up with an upgraded prototype of flying car AeroMobil 3.0. After an initial test crash, AeroMobil 3.0 finally made a successful maiden flight in the last decade. The CEO Juraj Vaculik had suggested the company’s plans to launch the model commercially by 2017. The importance of meeting regulatory standards for a flying vehicle cannot be understated and thus it would not be surprising if there occurs further delay by a couple of years before the final launch. Besides, AeroMobil also plans to make a fully automated version of the prototype for increased safety and comfort standards.

3. PALV:

PALV is a company from Netherlands that has developed a Personal Air And Land Vehicle Prototype PAL-V One that it claims can give experience of driving a sports car on road and at the same time like a flying bird in the sky giving a dimension of freedom by taking off from one island and landing to another, flying over mountain ranges and rivers.

4. Zee.Aero:

Zee.Aero, a small company in the Silicon Valley in California is working on to flying car concept to build up a VTOL machine. A patent filed by the company states that the VTOL car is capable of getting parked in a shopping mall. The project lead Ilan Kroo, an aeronautics professor and NASA scientist. The Zee.Aero has been designed in an arrangement that is called as ‘Canard wing’ wherein the payload area lies between front and rear set of wings.

For full list read List Of Companies Developing Flying Cars To Make It Future Reality

Flying Car For Sale

The Skyrunner is the first flight-capable personal vehicle that is now available on sale price $119,000 (£74,282). We cannot say it’s exactly a Flying Car but that’s what is currently available in the market.This is an all-terrain vehicle which is capable of getting transformed to a light sports aircraft in 3 minutes is already on sale now and can be ordered for a pre-payment of $5000. The debut launch of the flying car happened in the Fort Lauderdale International Festival in Hollywood in the year 2014 .

Flying Car Soon To Be Available For Sale:

The Terrafugia Transition Flying Car can be launched any time now by 2018. It was scheduled to be launched last year. The company had further planned to launch the fully automated version of Terrafugia TF-X model by the year 2025 and having an estimated starting price of £200,000. Transition had nearly 100 pre-orders as early as December 2011 when its price was raised to $ 279,000 (£180,000) from original estimated amount of $ 194,000.

Update: Flying Cars Soon To Be On Sale – PAL-V Started Taking Sales

Related: Terrafugia Flying Car To Be Ready By 2018 Available By 2025

PAL-V has announced to deliver 25 Flying Car to North America by 2018 at a price of $599000 for one unit.

Related: PAL-V All Set To Bring A Flying Car Worth $600k To US Market By 2018

Other Flying Car Expected To Go For Sale:

At the Vienna Pioneer’s Festival held in October 2014, the Slovakian company announced the 2017 as the most likely debut year for the commercial launch of AeroMobil 3.0. The CEO Juraj Vaculik said to bring the flying roadster in the market is the main challenge and required settling the government and bureaucratic norms of both land and air.

For more read Flying Car For Sale article.

Flying Car Price

Terrafugia was expected to be in the commercial scene at any time between 2017 and 2025, with the prices of $279,000 ( £180,000). But it would not be anomalous if the roadrunner aircraft requires few more years for its final take-off on the market scene and with an increase in its price.

PAL V Flying car is also expected to go for sale at a price of $599,000 by 2018 in North America. The car will have maximum capacity of 2 people with a side by side arrangement of seats. It will need minimum speed of 31 mph and a 540 Feet long runway to take off, while just 100 Feet long runway is needed for landing.

Flying Car Launch

AeroMobil, a Slovakian company has planned to launch its flying car AeroMobil 3.0 in 2017 and Terrafugia in 2018. Yes, folks! The flying machine is lying ready to be launched after final test. Juraj Vaculik had unveiled most advanced flying car AeroMobil 3.0, way back in October, 2014. The model has been obtained as a third generation from the prototype and has made a successful maiden flight in 2013.

The Terrafugia Transition model which was initially priced for an amount of $19,000 then upgraded to $296,000 in December 2011 may be launched in 2017 at an upgraded cost. While Terrafugia TF-X the semi-autonomous flying car model that would be ready for testing by 2018. If all the tests result in success, then the vehicle would be available by 2025 – 2028 price at $ 260,000.

For more info see Flying Car launch category

Flying Car Challenges And Problems

Because of certain opposing characteristics, the challenges faced in engineering design of a personal flying Car are immense. Thus, the idea of flying car becoming a reality has remained unmet till now.

Challenge 1: New License Certificate

Driving a flying car would require a pilot’s certificate and also an initial training of 18- 40 hours and foremost, along with a driver’s license for a flying car. And this includes understanding air traffic controls along with meeting medical requirements. This would result in many people unable to use the flying cars. Additionally there are some categorical problems listed below.

Challenge 2: Take-off and Landing Problems:

Many of the models of flying car require an obstruction-free short distance runway at least of 2 meters to have a successful take-off. Therefore avoiding traffic jams by using flying car is not feasible in these models.

Even if some prototypes that are capable of vertical take-off come into the play, the idea of take-off from a traffic jam by multiple flying car drivers into the airspace would further complicate the traffic safety standards and basically result in a chaos and serious accidents.

Challenge 3: Bad Weather Complications:

Bad weather or night time causing low visibility would also pose a problem for commuters of a flying car limiting its use in torrential, bad weather conditions.

Challenge 4: Huge Maintenance Involved:

The flying car would require intensive maintenance for keeping it in perfect workable condition matching initial technical standards and rules for government regulatory requirements. For example, if a car runs out of fuel or has technical difficulties is an extremely different situation if the same happens in case of an aircraft. The amount of maintenance desirable for an flying car would be immense given the additional features of wingspan or electric engine-powered propellers.

Find out more Flying Car challenges

Flying Car Infographic:

Check out our infographic on Flying Car. In this infographic we have shared companies working on Flying Car, concepts, challenges, launch and price details.

Flying Car Videos

PALV One Three-wheeled Gyrocopter is a foldable gyrocopter with forward thrust and free-spinning rotor that provides required lift.

Terrafugia Transition: The roadable personal aircraft equipped with glass-cockpit avionics, innovative mechanisms running on gasoline.

Check out more amazing Flying Car Video

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