Hundreds of years have passed since the invention of both cars and aircraft. Since then, people have dreamed (and still dream) of combining them into one thing. Although their function varies greatly, there are companies that have succeeded in making flying cars that actually work.

In 1917, Glenn Curtis unveiled the first-ever attempt at a flying car. In 1989, the second part of the Back to the Future movie series was released, in which the director imagined that humans would be able to use flying cars primarily in their daily lives by 2015. Although this did not happen on time, we are actually not very far from this.

However, have you ever thought about the legality of using flying cars for the general public? This is what we will discuss in this article.

Legal Questions

There are a lot of legal questions that have not yet been decided. For example, these cars need large separate spaces to take off. Will these spaces be provided for them as in airports? Will they have a standalone license, or will we use a regular car license? Will they be insured? Will they be part of the state or the FAA?

Experimental Aircraft

Let’s take the Switchblade as an example, as it represents the newest flying car on the market. On July 15 of this year, the FAA approved the Samson Switchblade, though it is required to be home built, which means that over 50% must be assembled by the buyer. The owner can also use the assistant center to help him assemble the car, but this will require a lot of money, and the car is already expensive, so we can consider flying cars now only for the rich.

Сurrent Alternative

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) is the current optimal alternative to flying cars. In fact, these aren’t exactly flying cars since they can’t cross roads, but they do pretty much the same thing. This type of aircraft does not require a license. On the other hand, you cannot operate these aircraft at night or in crowded “urban” places. Some people, especially transportation planners, consider this alternative to be safer and even better than flying cars, and that it will reduce congestion in cities a lot as everyone will move in the air.

The idea of flying cars is very old. However, its application is relatively new, and there are still no laws that regulate it completely. We believe that the day will come when we will use these cars primarily and under a regulated law, especially after the spread of electric cars and eVTOL. We also believe that its price will decrease and will develop a lot with the spread and competition between companies.