| MadSci Network: Engineering |
There have been several attempts in the past to develop a practical "flying car" with varying levels of success. A short history can be found at Skypad Technologies International. From a technological viewpoint, there have been demonstrations of cars can and do work.
The costs of these cars would be high, but so is the cost of a Porsche, Rolls Royce or Corvette. These cars sell enough to be economically viable, and the companies can prosper.
The largest obstacle to having flying cars is safety. Consider the requirements by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on airplanes. They must maintain a minimum vertical and horizontal separation at all times. These distances are measured in hundered of feet in the vertical and miles in the horizontal. Needless to say in a urban or suburban setting similar requirements would effectively ground most flying cars.
There are two possibilities to get around this. One is to allow people to drive closer together in flying cars. If you have ever driven in a major city during rush hour you know how hectic things can be when dealing with many cars cutting in and out of lanes. Now increase the problems by adding other cars coming at you not only from the front, rear and sides but also above and below. If you have ever seen the movie Top Gun during the dogfight sequences you can get a good idea what it would be like. Hence this is not a good solution.
The better and more likely solution is to automate the cars. By turning over the control of the cars to a computer that interacts with all other flying cars it would be possible to assign altitude, direction and speed and ensure no one would hit the car. Current work with normal cars is already showing that this is a possibility for the future.
So it is unclear if flying cars like the ones shown in The Jetsons will be available in the future. It will require some technological breakthroughs to make them safe to operate combined with a sufficiently large market to make them affordable for most people.
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