Picture this. You’re driving along I-4 on your way from Orlando to Tampa. Cars are whizzing by overhead whike thew highway below sits nearly empty.
Whether it’s Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers or George Jetson, it seems as if the age of flying cars is close at hand, if not already here.
Last week I posed a question wondering if anyone was brave (or crazy) enough to get into a flying car. I’m not surprised that the majority of readers who took the poll agreed with me, preferring to remain on the ground. But I am surprised by how close the vote was.
Last week I asked:
Would you ever get into, let alone drive, a flying car?
The results:
No. The roads are dangerous enough: 56 percent
Yes. Just call me George Jetson: 44 percent
Here’s what you had to say:
Both flying in and driving a flying car excite me. I’ve been waiting. What I really want to do is use jetpacks. Cheers to moving into the future.
–Milly Krause, Cape Canaveral
I’m open to it, but I won’t be jumping on board right away. It would need to have it’s own regulations, weather satellite screens and a traffic control system. Otherwise, I agree with your daughter, it is a catastrophe waiting to happen! Since these flying cars would be traveling at much lower altitudes. There is a lot to consider, i.e. power lines, antenna towers, guidewires coming off of antenna towers, other low flying aircraft like helicopters and private planes. Imagine an unlicensed flying car pilot navigating at night or in bad weather.
Why is there such a rush to implement all these new technologies with out testing, training, regulations and guidelines?
–Ann Hunter, Crawfordville
Absolutely. There will be less people in the air but I do think everyone flying a car needs to have a special license. I knew years ago we would be like George Jetson.
–Dennis Straub, Palm Bay
Absolutely because there will be less idiots up in the sky driving because not everyone is going to be able to afford flying car and it should be mandatory to have a special license to fly
–Misty Straub, Palm Bay
So the plan is to take a population that already struggles with turn signals, merge lanes, and not texting while driving, and add a third dimension. What could possibly go wrong? The public hears “flying cars” and imagines The Jetsons. The business model looks a lot more like “Uber Helicopter for people with stock options.” Meanwhile, taxpayers get the bill for the landing pads. If 18 million Florida drivers suddenly became pilots, the state would resemble a Michael Bay movie filmed during hurricane season.
–A.J. Maughn, Palm Bay
I am a certificated pilot. I have no fear of operating in a PROPERLY REGULATED airspace. Those flying around me should meet certain regulatory requirements, REGARDLESS OF VEHICLE WEIGHT.
–Kim Keller, Rockledge
I’m not worrying about this. We were in SanFrancisco last month and it was funny to see the Waymo cars without a driver. They say there is a small area in downtown Orlando where they operate too. But that’s a far cry from flying cars. Maybe emergency vehicles? Someday probably, but not for ordinary or horrible drivers anytime soon!
–Randy Lascody, Melbourne
I’ve ridden motorcycles throughout the state of Florida for decades. Even though the population is increasing and average IQ’s decreasing, I’m still alive. At least flying at low altitude has fewer people competing for air space.
–Mac Cunningham, Bartow
Not anytime soon. I’ll give them a year or two and see how it is going!
–Bob Estes, Satellite Beach
Yes, I think this is the future. I’m not interested in driving a flying vehicle, but I think taking a flying taxi could be perfectly safe albeit probably a bit expensive.
–Brian Turner, Palm Bay
Yes, as long as they have automatic anti-avoidance radar systems for ignorant pilots.
–Tom Walden, Rockledge
The technology behind advanced air mobility and autonomous transportation has been maturing for more than a decade. For much of that period, innovation moved faster than the regulatory structure needed to accommodate it. That gap is now beginning to close. The Federal Aviation Administration has established important rules for powered-lift aircraft, pilot certification, commercial operations, and integration into the National Airspace System, while federal regulators are likewise accelerating the development of a national framework for autonomous automobiles.
I believe that by late 2027 we could be approaching a transportation watershed, with increasingly capable eVTOL aircraft and fully autonomous automobiles moving from demonstrations and limited deployments toward meaningful public use. The precise timetable will depend on certification, safety performance, infrastructure, and federal and state regulatory decisions, but the direction of travel is increasingly clear.
Fear of technological change is understandable, but change itself is one of the constants of human progress. The automobile was once regarded by many as dangerous, noisy, and disruptive compared with the horse. Early aviation seemed even more improbable. Charles Lindbergh had been a barnstormer only a few years before his historic 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic; by 1939, regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger service had begun. What seemed extraordinary to one generation became routine transportation to the next.
Central Florida should not merely watch this transportation revolution unfold — it should embrace it and help lead it. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, increasingly automated aviation, and fully autonomous ground vehicles have the potential to reshape regional mobility, connect airports and communities, reduce travel times, create new industries, and strengthen America’s technological leadership. The FAA itself is already pursuing advanced-air-mobility integration, including real-world eVTOL testing and a pathway toward broader operations.
And this transformation is occurring at an extraordinary moment in American technological history. NASA is now explicitly pursuing a Moon Base near the lunar South Pole as part of an effort to establish an enduring human presence on the Moon. A nation preparing to live and work on another world should not hesitate to modernize transportation here at home.
Central Florida — and the nation as a whole — should meet these technologies not with reflexive resistance, but with prudent regulation, ambitious infrastructure investment, and a willingness to lead. Safety must remain paramount, but safety and innovation are not opposing principles. We can insist upon both.
As Bob Dylan once put it, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”
The question for Central Florida is not whether transportation will change. It is whether we will lead that change — or watch it arrive somewhere else first.
–Jack Kennedy, Cape Canaveral
Loved the Jetsons and thought it would be like that when I became an adult. I waited a long time for this.
–Mary Palermo, Venice
Always wanted to live to see flying cars. Can’t wait to drive,…er, fly one!
–Marie Muller, Cocoa
The cost of the energy will make flying cars impracticable. The “airways” would be restricted by law or by court cases.
–Neil Miserendino, Palm Bay
Great comments this week! And, as always, thanks for participating in the Question of the Week.
Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on X @johnalbertorres. Florida video editor Rob Landers contributed to this report. Support local journalism and become a subscriber. Visit floridatoday.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Flying cars are coming. Would you get in one? Readers weigh in
Reporting by John A. Torres, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John A. Torres, Florida Today | USA TODAY Network
