Remember the movie ‘Back to the Future‘, where Doc arrives back from the future to pick up Marty? The most amazing thing happens when they leave: the tires move and the car transforms into a flying machine! I’m sure, like most people, you have occasionally wondered if this would ever become a reality. Is it even possible?
Surprisingly enough, flying cars actually do exist. These are cars that can drive to a local airport, transform into an airplane, and fly into the clouds. We are still, however, quite a ways off from creating lanes for air cars to fly in as a normal, everyday way of transportation.
We should be thankful that we cannot fly cars just yet because of the ridiculously high gas and insurance costs. Typically a person who gets into an accident only affects himself or herself and whatever is hit (which may or may not include a couple of other people). But can you imagine being in a flying car and having a minor fender-bender? Perhaps ‘minor’ is the wrong word here, as you would then fall from the sky and land in someone’s living room.
There is so much that goes into fixing damage from an accident already. This often includes fixing vehicles, dealing with insurance claims, having compulsory third party insurance, and several other important factors. Can you imagine how much more difficult it would be to have to deal with flying car accidents?
Another headache with flying cars would come into play with driver’s licenses. If you’ve ever been to the DMV, you know that standing in line takes forever. If we’re flying cars as airplanes, the regulations would certainly get stricter. The process of getting a driver’s license would likely become more difficult and much longer. Driver’s Ed would probably be a couple of years long rather than six months or so. Talk about a nightmare.
While there would be some issues with the whole flying car thing, it can’t be denied that they would prove to have some great benefits as well. Being able to fly across states in your own personal car would allow for greater travel than we have currently (and that’s saying something). These flying cars would allow us to easily and conveniently visit loved ones who live far from us, even if they are only on the other side of the state.
Flying cars would also cut travel time down drastically. This might sound obvious, considering the increased speed at which you would travel. The fact that we would no longer be dealing with confining roads would also add great freedom to the routes we flew (well, at least until hundreds or thousands of flying cars occupied the skies).
This all might sound just a little too futuristic to be true. But the fact is that certain companies such as Terrafugia are making them a reality. It’s only a matter of time before they become a thing of the present.
So the question is, will you own one?