At our club meeting on August 28, 2025, Tim Jackson presented a fascinating look at tomorrow’s flying cars and drone delivery systems.
In the 1800s bicycles were a common personal mobility vehicle. The period from 1900 to 1920 saw rapid change in personal transportation, with the widespread introduction of automobiles and airplanes. Fast forward to 1972, and Americans were travelling some 1.1 trillion vehicle miles per year. Today, that’s about 3.3 trillion. We are running out of room to build more highways and the highways we have are increasingly congested. Additionally, automobile and truck traffic cause emissions and the U.S. averages over 42,000 road fatalities per year.
To address these and other issues, many large companies, including well-known automobile, aviation and tech companies, are investing in drones and “advanced air mobility” vehicles. The latter include flying taxis, air taxis and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) passenger drones. Just as bicycles were precursors to cars, today’s cars are precursors to these vehicles.
Flying cars have been part of science fiction for some time. Think of The Jetsons, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Night Rider and even Harry Potter (flying car episode). But now, Amazon and Door Dash have been experimenting with drone deliveries in certain markets. Drone shows are replacing fireworks displays. Additionally, many major aircraft and automobile companies are involved in developing or financing the development of working prototypes of flying taxis, air taxis and other advanced air mobility vehicles (collectively, “flying cars”).
Some of these “flying cars” are small enough to land in the driveway of a house and fit in the back of an F-150. Those weigh about 190 lbs and can fly 60-70 miles. Some “flying taxis” are larger and land in vertiports. These vehicles have been demonstrated in major auto shows such as the Detroit auto show. Others have been shown at the Consumer Electronics Show. Some are CTOL (conventional takeoff and landing) and some are VTOL. One such craft, built by Boeing, is pilotless.
Conventional cars are likely to be with us for a long time. But at some point, future vehicles will have to go aerial.
