Flying cars have been a big part of science fiction for decades. They often show up in movies or futuristic stories, and some people even see them as a sign of progress. But I’ve never really understood the obsession. What problem are they supposed to solve? Why do we even need them?
Sometimes I think the idea of flying cars might have come from living in tall buildings. If you’re on the 30th floor and need to visit someone on the 40th floor of another building across town, it seems inefficient to take the elevator down, drive across the city, and then take another elevator up. Flying directly between them might save time.
But this idea only makes sense in places full of skyscrapers. In Hamburg, Germany, where I live, we don’t really have many tall residential buildings. Most high-rise buildings are offices, hotels, or social housing. When people have more money, they usually want to live in a house with a yard, not on the 25th floor. So there isn’t much motivation here to build tall buildings, except maybe to reduce the cost per square meter.
If most people aren’t living in skyscrapers, then the whole “flying between tall buildings” idea doesn’t hold up.
Another argument for flying cars might be speed, getting from point A to B faster. In some big cities, rich people already use helicopters to avoid traffic. That sounds nice in theory. But what happens if flying cars become common?
The sky would get crowded, just like roads are now. Once air traffic increases, there would be regulations and limits to keep it safe. So you wouldn’t really go faster. You’d just be stuck in “air traffic” instead.
There’s also the problem of noise. Think about drones, helicopters, or airplanes, none of them are quiet. People living near airports already complain about the noise. Now imagine thousands of flying cars buzzing overhead every day. Going outside would be unbearable.
And then there’s the issue of accidents. With more flying vehicles in the air, the chances of mid-air collisions would go up. And unlike a regular car crash, a flying vehicle crash means something could literally fall out of the sky. That’s not just dangerous, it’s terrifying. This kind of risk is already a big concern with drones, and it’s one of the main reasons we don’t see drone deliveries happening in cities yet.
For all these reasons, I don’t think flying cars will become a thing. Instead, we should be thinking about hovercars, cars that float slightly above the ground. With electric vehicles, we’ve already reduced a lot of pollution and engine noise. But cars are still loud because of their contact with the road. Hovercars could eliminate that friction, reduce noise even more, and cut down the cost of maintaining roads. Of course, my real preference would be investing in better cycling infrastructure, more bike lanes, fewer traffic lights for cyclists, and incentives for using e-bikes. Cycling is still the most efficient and affordable way to get around. But since cars aren’t going away anytime soon, I think focusing on improving them (rather than trying to make them fly) is the smarter move.
