New Hampshire is first state to allow flying cars on the road
Will New Hampshire suddenly look like GTA 5? No, but the state's ready to let them hit the road legally.
This is the Switchblade, which was supposed to arrive last year.
We've been promised flying cars for seemingly decades, and although we still don't have one ready for production, New Hampshire has gone ahead and given them the OK.
On Wednesday, the Granite State passed House Bill 1182, aka the "Jetson Bill," into law, and the transportation bill includes a prevision that makes flying cars legal on public roads. There aren't any to hit the roads today, but it's a future forward gesture, I suppose.
To be clear, the legislation doesn't let future flying cars zip above roadways, but it does allow them to operate as a traditional vehicle on public roads. Essentially, it lets tomorrow's drivers/pilots drive to the airport and then takeoff towards the skies. And no funny business, either; flying cars will not be allowed to take off and land on public roads.
Although they don't exist today, there are two companies that continue to aggressively pursue the segment. Terrafugia is probably the biggest name after China's Geely purchased the Massachusetts-based startup. However, the company's gone rather quiet in the past couple of years. The company told Roadshow it has 100 people working on its flying car project, maintains "strong support from Geely" and eyes leadership in "urban air mobility."
The second is Samson Sky. The Oregon-based startup originally planned to have its flying car, the Switchblade, ready in 2019 after making a big splash in 2018. We last received an update on the prototype almost a year ago, but it appears the company is still humming along. Samson Sky also did not immediately return a request for comment on its flying car's status.
Even if we do get a true flying car one day, it's unlikely they'll perform exactly the way we watched them in The Jetsons. In reality, vertical take-off and landing contraptions, or VTOLs, will probably get closer to the futuristic way of life.
