First flying car to hit the skies in 2017, self-flying model to follow

Flying car

If you thought the idea of a flying car was too crazy to ever become a reality, you're about to be proven wrong.

At the SXSW festival this week Aeromobil has been showing off a vehicle that's equally happy in the skies or on the road, and it's scheduled to go on sale in 2017.

Just imagine avoiding traffic jams by soaring through the skies - and avoiding passport control queues by taxiing straight off the runway. It's a complete door-to-door mode of transport no matter where you're heading, even if you live miles from the nearest airport.

Aeromobil's team have made a number of breakthrough innovations, not least building an aircraft that can run on regular petrol. When in road mode, the wings fold around behind the car so you don't slice any buses in half.

Chocs away

Twenty years in development, the latest 3.0 prototype can reach 124mph in the skies and 99mph on the motorway. It's built from carbon-coated steel and there are two seats if you want to take a friend along with you. As a car, it's slightly longer and slight narrower than the average hatchback.

The cost hasn't yet been set but Aeromobil says you can expect to pay several hundred thousand dollars for one of these once they go on sale in just two short years. The flying car is intended for short-haul journeys of 400-500 miles (so you can't cross the Atlantic just yet).

There's more to come, too - Aeromobil is working on another model that's self-driving and self-flying, so it can come and pick you up from wherever you happen to be. If you're ready to travel in style, we'd advise you to get saving.

Via CBC News

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.