Flying cars are yesterday’s future

Flying cars have been around since cars were invented.

Trajan Vuia built one in 1903, though only took off in 1906 (for a few meters).

Henson and Stringfellow imagined a flying steam carriage as early as 1843.

And so on, up until today’s breathless headlines, telling us – for example on 13th January 2025 – that “Flying cars could soon become a reality“

News! Flying cars were already a reality 119 years ago (Vuia’s took off in 1906), and they will never become common.

They will never become common for two main reasons:

• traffic control: we have just tragically seen how difficult it is to manage the 2000 or so flights a day that cut across the skies of Washington. Imagine 200 000 flights over Washington, taking off and landing from driveways, parks and office buildings. It isn’t going to happen.
• driver competence: many drivers make mistakes, or are – from time to time – jerks. Imagine sky-rage, or a fender-bender 1500 feet in the air. The consequence of a car crash is bad enough: but *any* collision in the air will lead to passenger and driver deaths, and will probably kill, maim and destroy on the ground.

To some extent, we already have vehicles akin to flying cars: they are called helicopters. They are private vehicles that wealthy people can use to zip across town. As technology develops, these wealthy people may have more fancy-looking vehicles to get across town with, but they will be like helicopters – piloted by qualified individuals, regimented by proper flight plans, and small enough in number to allow plenty of air space round each one.

And what about AI? Surely AI can manage the complexity of swarms of flying vehicles? Maybe, but I would not want to board a vehicle piloted by a potentially hallucinating AI, an AI designed for efficiency, which does not care about vehicle maintenance because its life is not at stake….

Pilots, even if their flying skills are some day overtaken by computers, still know a lot more than I do about aircraft.

If they are willing to fly in one, then I will defer to their judgement: if they are not boarding, I will defer to their judgement and ride a bike.