Up where we belong

For almost a century, we’ve been promised a commute with more clouds than congestion.

The first flying car sketches appeared as early as the 1910s, and by the 1930s, the idea had taken off, at least on paper.

Henry Ford is said to have declared in 1940: “Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming.” We’ve been marking those words ever since, but mostly from behind the wheel, still stuck in traffic. Every few decades, someone rolls out a shiny prototype and the headline writers dust off the same phrase: “Just like The Jetsons.”

But The Jetsons was set in 2062, and they still had parking issues. The problem isn’t imagination; it’s regulation, cost, noise, and the occasional law of physics.

Today, with electric propulsion, AI-assisted navigation, and the kind of optimism that keeps startups funded, flying cars have been rebranded as eVTOLs: electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles.

Sleeker, quieter, and with the promise of being safer, they’re being positioned as the next leap in urban mobility. Joby Aviation, XPeng, and Volocopter are among those betting big on air-taxis within the decade. But maybe that’s the real trick. Flying cars have always been almost here; never boring, never gone, and never quite real.

The question isn’t whether we can finally take off, but whether we’ll ever be ready to look down on traffic from above instead of complaining about it from behind the wheel.

For now, the sky is crowded, not with aircraft, but ambition. The dream that once belonged to sci-fi films now sits in hopeful investor decks and urban-mobility roadmaps. And, suddenly, everyone from carmakers to aviation giants wants a piece of the clouds.

China’s XPeng AeroHT showed off a modular flying car with foldable rotors called a “Land Aircraft Carrier” at CES 2025, and actually flew it during a public demo in Dubai this October.

The detachable aerial module, made from lightweight carbon fibre, is stored in the rear trunk of the hybrid electric van, referred to as the “mothership”. The two-seater rotorcraft is charged by the truck’s system as you drive. The company claims to have 3 000 orders on its books and plans to deliver by 2026, at around $300 000 a pop.

Japan’s skies are getting crowded with innovation: Honda is developing a five-seater hybrid eVTOL for short urban and regional trips, while Toyota has backed California-based Joby Aviation, whose drone-like air taxi aims for a US debut in 2026.

Suzuki, meanwhile, teamed up with SkyDrive for the SD-05 three seater prototype capable of 15km hops at 100km/h, as demonstrated at the Osaka World Expo 2025. Production is currently underway, while it seeks to gain commercial certification in Japan and the US.

Geely, the Chinese company that owns Volvo, acquired flying-car company Terrafugia in 2017, and also backs Volocopter, the German eVTOL firm already testing in cities like Singapore and Dubai. Terrafugia is currently working on the Transition hybrid electric eVTOL.

Europe’s Aeromobil has spent over a decade refining its transforming road-to-air design, while BMW and Porsche have partnered with Boeing to explore luxury air mobility, because if you’re going to skip traffic, you might as well do it in style.

But, as with most futuristic technologies, flying cars won’t debut in your suburb before they appear in cities with skyscrapers and oil money. The first wave of sky commuters will likely be executives and tourists moving between luxury districts in Dubai, Riyadh, or New York City, not parents doing school runs.

The Persian Gulf is treating air mobility as the next prestige project. Dubai has already hosted Xpeng, Joby Aviation and Volocopter test flights and plans to launch air taxis as early as 2026, complete with rooftop “vertiports”. If any region can build infrastructure and regulation overnight, it’s the one that engineered islands in the sea.

Saudi Arabia’s Neom megacity blueprint includes flying vehicles as part of its clean, tech-forward design. Meanwhile, New York could become the first major US market for air mobility through Joby Aviation. Backed by Toyota and Uber, it is targeting passenger routes between Manhattan and JFK by 2026.

But this future will come at a cost, with early fares expected a round $100 t o $ 400 per passenger, while personal flying cars could retail between $300 000 and $600 000, which is less daily commuter and more weekend toy for the wealthy.

Flying cars will solve the problem of congestion and inefficiency in urban mobility, and tap into our cultural obsession with convenience, status, and innovation: the idea that technology can always engineer a better version of life. It also serves as a symbol of progress, even if the mass-market case isn’t clear yet.

For companies, flying cars are a proof of concept, a way to merge advances in EVs, AI navigation, and lightweight materials into a bold statement. The irony is that while all these companies are preparing to take some of us above the congestion, the rest of us are still stuck waiting for proper EV charging infrastructure on the ground.

Flying cars may finally be within reach, but widespread adoption is likely years a way. There’s also the question of governance. Until then, the fantasy persists that, one day, you’ll leave work, unfurl your car’s wings, and soar home over gridlock. Just don’t forget to check the weather.

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