Somebody get Marty McFly and Doc on the phone, here comes Transition from Terrafugia.

Maybe not a Delorean, but some MIT wizards do have a working 1/5th scale model in a wind tunnel and with $30,000 hope to get a full size prototype built by 2008:

Terrafugia is aiming to build a vehicle that will fly at 120 miles per hour and get 30 miles a gallon in the air. (It will also get 40 miles per gallon on the freeway and 30 in the city). The Transition vehicle will carry a payload of only 430 pounds, far less than cars, but how many cars can take flight after 1,500 feet of takeoff space?

Is it just me or does $30,000 sound pretty inexpensive for this type experiment? Back at Seattle Mind I saw a speedy $100,000 electric car. The Transition will come in around $149,000 and be available in 2009, according to the Terrafugia website FAQ. A valid drivers license for street mode will be required and at least a light sport pilot’s license will be required for flight mode.

This would be great to see us move to the skies if they can get this working and practical. The latter part is the challenge since, according to the article, technically flying cars have been possible since the 60s. Also, will these fly themselves?

Also, as their own FAQ states, it wouldn’t be very safe to go into flight mode on the freeway, so no punching it in a traffic jam and flying the friendly skies to get to work on time.

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