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Reducing noise is another challenge since air taxis will be taking off and landing in densely populated areas. While further research is needed to ensure that autonomous aircraft are safe, 'we believe automation technology already being prototyped in low-risk unmanned aircraft missions, when fully mature, could have a positive effect' on aviation safety,' the agency said. FAA officials have discussed with several manufacturers the certification of aircraft that will be flown with a pilot in the beginning, and later converted to an autonomous passenger aircraft. The FAA said in a statement that it is taking a 'flexible, open-minded, and risk-based approach' to flying cars. Nearly a dozen companies around the globe, some of them with deep pockets like Airbus, are working to develop personal aircraft that let people hop over crowded roadways. Inventors and entrepreneurs have tried and failed to make the dream a reality, but that may be changing. Even before George Jetson entranced kids with his flying car, people dreamed of soaring above traffic congestion. This image provided by Joby Aviation shows the conceptual design of the Joby S2 Electric VTOL PAV aircraft. Depending on how fast the aircraft flies, that probably isn't quite enough to transport passengers between nearby cities or across metropolitan areas, experts said.Īnother hurdle will be winning Federal Aviation Administration certification for any radical new kind of aircraft when approval of even small changes in aviation technology can take years. Currently available batteries could probably keep an air taxi aloft about 15 to 30 minutes before it would have to land, experts said.

Key for many of the designs will be the development of longer-lasting lightweight batteries. 'In terms of what you can make fly in a reliable manner, the solution speed gateway that (computer) chips have gone through recently have literally opened the door to a whole new world of flying machine possibilities,' said Charles Eastlake, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor emeritus of aerospace engineering.īut he also cautioned: 'My best engineering guess is that people actually using autonomous air taxis in the next 10 or 15 years is possible, but definitely not certain. And some, like the Vahana, a cockpit mounted on a sled and flanked by propellers in front and back, don't really look like any aircraft in the skies today. (Airbus via AP)Īnother aircraft under development, Santa Cruz, California-based Joby Aviation's S2, looks more like a conventional plane except that there are 12 tiltrotors spread along the wings and tail. This artist rendering provided by Airbus shows a vehicle in their flying car project, Vahana. The name means the mount or vehicle of a Hindu deity. 'In as little as 10 years, products could be on the market that revolutionize urban travel for millions of people,' said Zach Lovering, the leader of Airbus' project to develop an autonomous flying taxi called the Vahana. They envision tens of thousands of one or two-person flying taxis delivering passengers to the rooftops of office buildings in city centers and other landing pads during rush hours. They see a vast potential market for 'air taxis' and personally owned small aircraft to transport people from the fringes of metropolitan areas to city centers as urban areas grow more congested and people spend more time stuck in traffic.

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There are many obstacles, including convincing regulators that the aircraft are safe, figuring out how to handle thousands of new low-flying aircraft over cities without collisions and developing batteries that will keep them aloft long enough to be useful.īut entrepreneurs are moving forward. It's no sure bet that flying-car dreams will turn into reality. Each rotor is operated by a battery-powered electric motor instead of a conventional aircraft piston engine. Rather than a single, large main rotor, they have multiple small rotors.

Typically they take off and land vertically like helicopters. A few of the aircraft under development are cars with wings that unfold for flight, but most aren't cars at all.

Nearly a dozen companies around the globe, including some with deep pockets such as European aircraft maker Airbus, are competing to be the first to develop a new kind of aircraft that will enable commuters to glide above crowded roadways.