The Era Of The Flying Car Has Finally Arrived
Bloomberg reported on the progress of the biggest name in the flying car business, Terrafugia, which is nearing the culmination of a decade-long effort to build, drive, fly, market and, yes, sell a flying cars to the dreamers who've always wanted one.
Okay, the Terrafugia Transition is more of a "roadable airplane" than a flying car. But as Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich notes in the Bloomberg profile by Josh Dean, that's a market that's crying out to be served:
The Transition is a versatile vehicle, as flying cars go. It runs on regular gas, can be parked in a regular garage, and provides the flexibility to fly when the weather is good and drive when it isn't, as Dean points out.
At about $280,o0o, it's priced in the ballpark of some exotic supercars. So it could be a very cool toy, but there's also a business case: If you need to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, the Transition unlocks America's underutilized network of small, regional airfields.
So Thiel is right: We have had to get by with 140 characters of innovation, up to this point.
But the flying cars we always wanted are finally coming. And if Thiel wants to get a "light sport aircraft" license and is willing put down a $10,000 deposit, he can both have one - and fly it.