Shape of things to comeDay of flying cars nears

Published 4 February 2009

MIT alumni are set to produce first commercially flying car (company prefers the designation “roadable plane”); DARPA is already searching for workable ideas for what it calls “Personal Air Vehicle Technology”

You may have heard this one about a driver who is stopped for speeding. “Was I driving too fast?” the driver asks the trooper. “No,” the trooper responds, “you were flying too low.” Flying cars are no longer only the stuff of jokes or James Bond movies (you may recall that In The Man with the Golden Gun, MI5’s Q Branch equips James Bond with a car that can fly: The AMC Matador coupe allowed Bond to fly from Bangkok to an island in the China Sea, where the bad guys Francisco Scaramanga and Nick Nack are holding Mary Goodnight hostage). In evidence: What began as an MIT student project has evolved into a working prototype of a two-seater airplane that can be quickly converted into a road-worthy car. The car-plane has begun test flights and is expected to go on sale next year. In case you are interested, and to avoid sticker shock: The price will be similar to that of a new Lamborghini.

Flying cars have been a science-fiction staple for decades, but have never made for a practical commercial product (although we note that DARPA hopes its “Personal Air Vehicle Technology” project, announced last year, will ultimately lead to a working prototype of a military-suitable flying car — a two-to-four passenger vehicle that can drive on roads one minute, and take off like a helicopter the next; see 13 November 2008 HS Daily Wire). The graduates of MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics think their plane, called the Transition, could change that. Featuring wings that fold out of the way at the touch of a button, it offers a solution for aviators flying to places where finding ground transportation may be difficult. The craft could also allow a pilot who encounters bad weather to simply land at a small airport and continue the trip by road.

The plane is made from modern composite materials, uses an advanced airplane engine, but runs on ordinary unleaded automotive gasoline. With its wings folded, it can fit in an ordinary garage or parking space.

The alumni formed a new company, Terrafugia, to produce and market the vehicle — which they prefer to call a “roadable plane” because it is primarily an airplane but can be converted into a roadworthy car. The company is taking advantage of a new licensing classification offered by the Federal Aviation Administration — light sport aircraft — to make the new plane possible.

The Woburn, Massachusetts-based company was founded by CEO Carl Dietrich (‘99, S.M.‘03, Ph.D. ‘07), COO Anna Mracek Dietrich (‘04, S.M.‘06), and VP of Engineering Samuel Schweighart (S.M.‘01, Ph.D. ‘05). The group began working on the project while they were still at MIT, and won a prize for their plans in the 2006 $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.