How wonderful would it be to travel in a flying car (not necessarily time travel) like in the movies… was looking at the feasibility and was surprised to see a few organizations already working on prototypes during the past decade.

Wanted to know more and started looking at who were the ones who were making flying vehicles that can transport passengers, and how feasible would it be to own one.

While I saw many AI driven drones and delivery devices, was pleasantly surprised to see this video.. the first 10 minutes talk about the personal air (aerial) vehicles.. rest of focuses on innovation in other areas

Types of vehicles in the design, prototype and testing phases were amazing to look at! Made me want to ride one of these right away!

Some of the vehicles to look out for

1. Blackfly – Personal Air vehicle. Looks cool. As of 2 years back, one does not need a flying license as the auto pilot function is well tested and vehicle can land in water or on land.
2. Uber sky taxis – Interesting to wait and watch whether they will also be focusing on Electric cars and sky travel or choose one over the other. Hyundai was to make flying cars/taxis for Uber (announced earlier this year)
3. EHang – Chinese version of sky taxi. Simple and smaller vehicle. Interestingly, it has been approved for heavy air-lift logistics in China about a month back.
4. Asten Martin PAV – Nice design
5. Rolls Royce – Helicopter like 4-seater… now they are talking grandeur
6. Kittyhawk flyer – Sleek, amenities inside the vehicle and a bit more space can make the design work for a larger audience. Loved the way they test their vehicles and put the riders through a training regime – first on a simulator, then with the real machine strapped to the ground and then a ball pool for water landing.
7. Dan Simmons Jetpack – His concept of flying with a jetpack like Iron Man – LOVED it..! Has been working on it for more than a decade (most of the above have been as well).

There are obviously a lot of best practices that can be shared across the designs and models. Blackfly was to be launched at the price of an SUV in US. Now, we are talking affordable air travel in our own vehicles…!

Yes… just like Dan Simmons, our children and theirs for sure would be used to air travel as a normal mode of travel and would wonder why we spend hours and hours waiting in a traffic jam just to get to/back from work.

Okay okay.. life is not all about work.. think about the way we can experience a vacation or landmark like the wonders of the world, world heritage sites, skyscrapers, travel over the grand canyon, himalayas, disaster stricken zones – possibilities are truly limitless!