• Question: will there be cars that can fly in the future?

    Asked by lukep to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Hi lukep!

      You might not believe it… but they already exist!

      Check out the current ones here:
      (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/apr/04/flying-car-prototype-video-auto)

      Quite expensive though, and not quite as hi-tech as you imagined I guess… but we’re getting there! I might start saving up for mine now 🙂

    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      I think the technology isn’t super far off, but it will still be a long time before we actually see them in use.

      Because they are up in the air, a crash would be even more serious than on the ground, so they REALLY need to not crash. This might even mean that they need to be able to fly themselves, as human pilots could be too unpredictable.

      Then there are loads of boring non-technological problems like cost, legal issues and overall practicality. For example how do we designate where flying cars are allowed fly in such a way that they don’t crash into one another? You can’t paint lines in the sky like you can on the road!

      I think they will come eventually, but I don’t think it will be very soon, and we might have developed other stuff that is better by then. Teleportation? Reliable jet packs? Big tubes to shoot people around (like in Futurama)? Virtual reality? There are a lot of options!

    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      I would love a flying car!! It would be so quick to get places.

      The ones that exist at the moment just look like light aircraft (which I guess is what a flying car really is!)
      I would have expected them to look more impressive than that – like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!!

      Here is a video of a flying car in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWbRb_HpsdU

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