Flying Cars: Challenges and Propulsion Strategies

There is not much research reported directly related to flying cars. there has been, however, a lot of independent research related to ground vehicles and aerial vehicles. Since the flying car can be considered a car with the ability of a helicopter, most of the work being done on road and air vehicles could be applied to flying cars. With the advancement of technologies in the area of power electronics, control, electric motors, signals, and communications, the flying car vehicle industry could soon become a reality. the technologies related to electric and hybrid vehicles, and electric and more electric aircraft could be combined to develop electric/hybrid flying cars that will have higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions. This article traces a brief history and presents the challenges of developing flying cars and the required infrastructure. Some of the ongoing development work of flying cars and the future strategies are also presented. In addition, this article discusses the possible electric and hybrid propulsion architectures considering the ground propulsion, flight, and VTOL.