Will flying cars be sustainable?

Sometimes, I just type random search terms into Google Scholar to see what papers pop up. Not going to lie; I was surprised by this one: Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility by Kasliwal and colleagues (2019). Flying cars? This is definitely not an area that I have kept up to date on since my days of watching The Jetsons.

Based on Kasliwal et al’s analysis, it doesn’t really look to me like the investment needed to develop flying cars is going to be worth it. They must fly fully loaded, or close to, to outperform internal combustion engines and electric cars, and trips must be greater than, at minimum, 35 km. This accounts for a really small percentage of all vehicle trips according to the authors. And presumably, with many places around the world exploring how to make their cities and neighbourhoods more walkable, trips of over 35 km will actually become less frequent.

It seems as though the argument for flying cars might be similar to car shares currently in place, where you could order a ride for a longer distance or book a trip with other passengers who may be unknown to you. But whether this will create enough market to justify the development of the technology is yet to be seen.