The iCar 101 project is based on the use of Magnus effect, telescopic spinning wings.

More information and photos at http://www.iCar-101.com

Nationally, when the cost of the airlines is normalized (instead of subsidized), the cost of passenger rail will be much more attractive!

GO METRO!

It is also a matter of humans becoming intelligent again, (as right now, we seem to be getting dumber and dumber) Right now, we can’t even handle 2 dimensional manoeuvrability without banging into one another, how the heck could we ever manage 3 dimensional travel?

If this technology is not used in a controlled manner, it can be a recipe for a greater disaster than our clogged roadways. Apart from the high energy requirements for personal flights, just imagine the situation if everyone starts taking to the skies for commuting. It will be a repetition of the clogged roads up there in the skies.

Now only the rich can afford this, but so was the automobile when it was introduced, but has it not later become a commonplace transport mode? The same thing can happen to the flying car also in course of time.

And a clogged skyway is much more dangerous and fuel guzzling than a clogged roadway. So if this technology has to serve humanity in a sustainable manner, it may need a few alterations in it’s concept right from this development stage.

1) An alternative means of propulsion has to be considered. Electric power with nanotech batteries may hold the key to this development.

2) Rather than just developing it as a means of personal aviation, why not try to use it for public shared transport also – electronically guided, fixed route flying mini buses! . Of course the space required for take off and landing is one constraint to be overcome before that can happen.

http://www.geekalerts.com/moller-m200g-your-own-100k-ufo/

While the pilot license criteria and maintenance have become prohibitive since 9/11, and while the Sport category would help address that, the primary reason that we will never see a large scale use of flying cars is due to the space required to operate any aircraft safely. Automobiles can pass within five feet on a secondary road- highways require considerably more following distance, but it’s still very little compared to a minimum quarter-mile radius for things that fly. The skies will saturate quickly and there is nothing that can be done to change that.

I imagine that there will be heavy restrictions on which airports that will allow these craft to be flown into, or even around them.

For example: The biggest general safety factor on roadways is difference in speed. Highway accident stats improved when the speed limits were raised to 65 because there was a smaller delta between the motorists who were literal about the speed limit and the drivers who had a pace that suited their personal comfort level.

Large commercial airports today are already at the limits of speed differential. Smaller turbo-prop commuter planes have to approach at full throttle, or close to it, in order to get on the ground and out of the way of a large jet. We’re talking about cruising speeds of 300-400mp/h and >500mp/h, respectively.

A flying car- at 115mp/h – would be a gnat on a windshield at a large airport, and any disruption to commercial flights would not be tolerated.

For the small demographic who could afford a flying car and have a use to drive/fly from small airport to small airport, this is uber-cool. Time will tell how these will fair as a product. If you skimp on maintenance with your car, you might be stranded in an unpleasant and inconvenient place… the same for the flying car would result a huge penalty.