Flying cars are moving from a science-fiction idea toward a new form of transportation, although the first widely used vehicles will probably resemble small aircraft more than cars that simply take off from the highway.
Much of the development centers on electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which use multiple electric motors and propellers or rotors to rise vertically like a helicopter and, in many designs, transition to wing-supported flight for greater efficiency.
The Federal Aviation Administration classifies many of these vehicles as part of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and is already conducting real-world pilot programs to determine how eVTOLs, air taxis, and increasingly autonomous aircraft can safely share existing airspace. NASA is also researching technologies needed for AAM, including aircraft design, automation, safety, noise, and airspace integration.
Initially, these vehicles could carry passengers or cargo between airports, city centers, suburbs, and specialized vertiports, while other applications could include medical transport, firefighting, and search and rescue. Over time, better batteries, lightweight materials, quieter propulsion, artificial intelligence, and autonomous flight controls could make these aircraft safer, more practical, and less expensive to operate.
Major challenges remain—including certification, battery range, weather, noise, infrastructure, air-traffic management, and public acceptance—but flying cars and air taxis could eventually add a three-dimensional layer to transportation, allowing some trips to move above congested roads rather than along them.
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