New year, new world: Flying cars offer new social challenges

Meet George Jetson! He’s not just a cartoon character — he might be real now that flying cars are closer to becoming reality.

It’s a tempting prospect for people who live in high-traffic areas. Imagine being able to lift your car over a traffic jam. So long, drivers!

Dozens of companies are already deeply involved in flying car research. In 2022, the Slovak Transport Authority certified the Klein-Vision AirCar as airworthy. The car takes about two minutes to transform from a ground vehicle to an air vehicle and flies 100 mph up to 8,000 feet of elevation.

What will a flying car mean for transportation and safety? The answer is that it would challenge every known legal, financial, and licensing system and regulation, including air space, insurance, safety, and policing. It would challenge every social and privacy restriction, perhaps rendering fencing useless for privacy, and create a separate class of citizens.

It would challenge public safety. One can easily imagine the destruction a flying car could create if it crashed into houses or crowded areas. Parachute-type devices are being considered, according to Science Direct Assets.

Law enforcement might need the ability to remotely shut off flying car engines without harming property and people on the ground. Firefighting, rescue, border, and coastal security would be affected.

Challenges aside, flying vehicles are already here. The AirCar may be available for purchase this year for a salty $1 million. Currently, only licensed pilots are eligible to fly it.

A small single-engine airplane costs from $15,000 to $100,000. You’ll need to get a lift from the airport.