Are flying cars on the horizon?
At least since the days of the Jetsons, we’ve thought about having flying cars. Terrafugia, a start-up created by Lemelson-MIT Student Prize winner Carl Dietrich and others at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is working to give us just that. They’ve named this upcoming prototype, The Transition, which they describe as a “personal air vehicle”.
With folding wings, this car will go from automobile to plane as needed. It will be designed for 100 to 500 mile jumps, and will cruise up to 12,000 feet.
It will probably be a fully operational prototype by 2008, with actual models available by 2009 or 2010.
Not all mobile gadgets are small. Sometimes mobility comes in the form of a flying car. Although I’d love to own one, I’d actually be happy with just a car that has wheels that turn sideways, so that I could easily parallel-park.
