Autonomous Vehicle Tech Helps Launch Flying Cars

CARS.COM — Forget self-driving cars. The future is flying cars, at least according to Google’s co-founder. The concept has been around for many years, with the first design created in 1927, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. But Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, is working to make them a reality by investing more than $100 million into two flying car startups — Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk.

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Advances by automakers in self-driving systems, electric motors and lightweight batteries are aiding in the development of flying cars, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. While automakers and tech companies continue to develop autonomous cars and their technologies for use someday on public roads, one NASA engineer says today’s tech is likely ready for use in the skies. “Self-flying aircraft is so much easier than what the auto companies are trying to do with self-driving cars,” Mark Moore, a NASA aeronautical engineer, told Bloomberg.

The future seems a little closer with reports of Zee.Aero testing one of its prototypes at a Hollister, Calif., airport, but there’s no word on whether flying cars will land anytime soon.

Read Bloomberg Businessweek’s report on the development of flying cars.