Where Are They Now: Flying Car Concepts From Just The Last Decade

Jason Torchinsky saw the Terrafugia Transition in real life all the way back in 2012. Even then, the concept was less “flying car” and “more plane you can drive.” It came with mid-engine flat-four Rotax making 100 horsepower, a custom CVT and a light 1,435 pound weight all balanced on Vespa wheels and tires. It, in theory, could travel 400 miles. This concept tickled a younger Torch, before a deluge of “concepts” flooded car sites for the next 10 years with glitzy renderings of machines that would never see the light of day. The ability to land on the road would be a safety boon for light aircraft, after all.

Where’s my damn flying car? No matter how many infusions of cash Terrafuiga received over the years, its flying car was always seemed just two years away. The last update on the Terrafugia website is from about a year ago, reporting that the Federal Aviation Administration certified the Transition as a Special Light-Sport Aircraft. There is a reserve button, but it seems to be dead at this time. Maybe we’ll get another update in 2023.

Another concept from a decade ago. The Pal-V seemingly hit all the marks for something approaching an actual flying car: wheels, a car like body, plus short take-off and landing lengths plus gradual, controlled descent since the main rotor wasn’t going to be powered, anyway. It all folded and unfolded in a clever way to make driving actually possible. You can see how hopeful we are in these old lede images. By 2018, it seemed the Pal-V would be going on sale, but that may have been jumping the gun a little.

Where’s my damn flying car? The website seems much slicker and up-to-date than the Terrafugia one, but it’s in a similar situation. The Pal-V was certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in February of last year, and not a whole lot of news has come out about the Pal-V since then. The reservation button is working on the website, with the PAL-V Liberty Sport Edition running $399,00 and the fancy PAL-V Liberty Pioneer Edition which will be going for $599,000, eventually, we’re sure. The company isn’t taking paid reservations at this time, and there doesn’t seem to be information on any possible production or delivery dates.

This is the one that broke us. It’s now 2014, just two short years after the Pal-V, and Jalopnik was a little wiser and a little more jaded. Jason certainly was. The original report on this vehicle doesn’t even include the name of the car until the bottom four paragraphs.

Where’s my damn flying car? In March of last year, Aeromobil was teasing a model that it said would be ready in 2023. Just two short years away! Flying cars are always just two years away, of course and Aeromobil in particular abuses this trope. From Gizmodo:

In 2015, Design News ran with the headline, “AeroMobil Says it Will Put a Flying Car on the Market in 2 Years.” Needless to say, the car wasn’t released in 2017. Then, in May of 2015, the AeroMobil crashed during a test flight. But that didn’t stop the headlines from starting up again soon after.

In 2017, Mashable wrote of the AeroMobil, “Here’s a flying car you will actually be able to buy this year.” But other sites were a bit more cautious. Business Insider published the headline, “A startup’s $1 million flying car is officially rolling out to buyers in 2020.” If you don’t have a calendar nearby, we’re currently well into the year 2021. And yet, we’re still seeing headlines from websites like Mashable, which recently promised that people would be able to buy an AeroMobil flying car by 2023.

The website looks in good working order, but they are also not taking reservations. You can, however, register interest. According to the Robb Report (ugh) the Aeromobil will cost $1.7 million, fly 460 miles and won’t require a pilot’s license to operate. I don’t think that is true, or how Aeromobil could possibly know what the FAA will require for its product, but sure. Why not. It’s flying cars baby! Nothing matters.

Moving forward a bit to 2017, we see flying cars are once again on the horizon. Samson promised a flying sports car capable of 200 miles per hour at 13,000 feet. You can sure make up some damn impressive stats when you won’t ever deliver on them. The car was supposed to go on sale at the end of 2018 and that, dear reader, did not happen.

Where’s my damn flying car? This one has much more activity! Unfortunately, it’s mostly updates on the engineering team fiddling with every aspect of the car from water pumps to bypass valves. It’s nice that we’re kept up-to-date, but that doesn’t bode well for making that on sale date of four years ago. Currently, you can sign up to get updates. Eventually this could lead to a deposit, as the company is asking $2,000 down following its first public flight. When that will be is anyone’s guess. And if/when it does come down the line, you’ll be getting a 51 percent built car plus a kit, not a finished flying car. But don’t worry! For $20,000 you can hire someone from Samson to help you put it together. What a bargain!

This is the least “car” of the flying car concepts we’ve see so far, but because Larry Page of Google fame called it a flying car, here we are. Whatever it was, it looked fun as shit, loud as hell, and dangerous as all get out. But 2017 was a different time! What were a few inconveniences in the face of disruption?

Where’s my damn flying car? Kitty Hawk has appropriately abandoned the car pretense altogether and is now making ultralight electric personal aircraft. It features vertical take off and landing and the company claims it can travel 180 miles on a single charge. Kind of cool! There’s nothing about possible future sales on the website however. 

This was certainly not a car, but it is a fun concept from back in 2018. Mostly because this thing flies exactly how I imagine hippos would: kinda slow and clunky, with the little tweety wings of Egyptian plovers working double time to somehow lift it into the air. The company said way back when that it can travel over 40 miles and hit speeds of 72 mph in Canada (the Blackfly is only cleared to travel 25 miles at 62 mph in America) and could be flown by just about anyone via a joystick.

Where’s my damn flying car? Last we heard from Opener is a press release from August of 2021 and a notch on its timeline about production in October. There’s no place on their site to even sign up for a newsletter that might include a reservation someday, but hey, at least it is still in development.

What’s the point of being an industry disrupter if you aren’t going to invest buckets of money into a hare-brained idea like this? Uber Elevate came around during the halcyon days when Uber was a big money fire and investors couldn’t pour on that green fuel fast enough. They had two conferences! One in 2017 and one in 2018, all about the flying car future that Uber would definitely provide.

Where’s my damn flying car? Uber Elevate died a quiet death in 2020 when the division was sold to Joby Aviation (the same company responsible for the next horror show concept), according CNBC. Joby will still get to use the Uber App, however, when it brings flying taxis to a city near you in (wait for it) just two short years!

I knew we’d be playing fast and loose with the concept of both flying and car, but this is ridiculous. Joby called this simply a Flying Taxi, which implies flying car, but there is no car here. Incredibly, this road-unworthy concept garnered $100 million in investment from heavies like Toyota, Jet Blue and Intel, all of which should have know better.

Where’s my damn flying car? The company’s current concept looks nothing like this beast, which is probably good. They are no closer to actually selling a “flying car” however. The website notes Joby has one prototype certified by the FAA with a second prototype in the process of certification. In 2021 Joby was looking for a place to build its manufacturing operation, with commercial operation starting in 2024.

Hyundai actually worked with Uber Elevate on the S-A1 concept before Uber got out of the dream machine game for good. Hyundai hedged its bets a little better than the previous entries, announcing its Urban Air Mobility concept would hit the skies in 2026. UAM is a much better term for it, as nothing about this concept says “car” to me.

Where’s my damn flying car? Hyundai’s site is pretty disappointing. There’s a link to the introductory video from 2020 and a couple of vague details, but nothing new about the concept.

This entry barely made the list because, as you can see, this “flying car” has no wheels. Wheels being key feature of a car, we can confidently say this is not one. It’s actually an electric vertical take off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. It’s basically a giant drone you can sit in that can go all Edward Scissorhands on anyone who gets too close to those unprotected propellers. The company says flight time is in the 20 to 30 minute range and a max altitude of 500 meters. The SD-03 had its first successful piloted flight in 2020.

Where’s my damn flying car? It sure isn’t available for order on the SkyDrive website. The company has a rendering of the SD-XX concept, which is far less threatening to life and limb. It only exists in renderings however. SkyDrive brought its SD-03 concept to woefully attended CES earlier this month. The company’s own timeline has the establishment of its flying car branch as happening rough in the mid-2020s.

When GM gets in on the action, you know it’s over. We kicked off 2021 when this bit of weirdness came out of last year’s COVID CES. A 120-horsepower electric motor would supposedly power the four rotor blades in this little single-seater aeromobile. Cadillac said it was designed for speeds up of up to 56 miles per hour with vertical take offs and landings.

Where’s my damn flying car? Not in reality. Not even on Cadillac’s concepts page.

You know it’s going to be a good product when the two companies collaborating on it has to clarify that this is not a joke. OK Renault and TheArsenal! Whatever you say. The AIR4 is a giant drone with the body of a Renault 4 perched on top. It is certainly car shaped (say what you want about the French automaker, they sure know what cars look like), but that is not a flying car. I will draw your attention again to the lack of wheels, or sans roues as they say. Of course, it’s another E-VTOL. Here’s what we said about it in November of 2021:

The AIR4 is capable of ascending at over 31 mph (though limited to 9 mph for safety) up to a maximum height of nearly fifty feet. The company claims it can hit 58 miles per hour in a straight line, and that it will someday operate at altitudes of nearly 2,300 feet

Where’s my damn flying car? This concept came out just a few months ago, but the two companies are hedging their bets. They say this is not a concept, but rather a “a wink to how this icon could look like in another 60 years.” Which is like, the definition of a concept vehicle? Anyway, don’t hold your breath.