History Main / FlyingCar

* In the 1930's sci-fi musical ''Film/JustImagine'' everyone has their own propeller-driven personal airplane with horizontal props inset in each wing so they can hover in midair, allowing their occupants to chat or burst into song. In a TakeThat against the anti-semitic Henry Ford, all the car manufacturers have Jewish names.

* Perhaps the earliest example in film would be the small personal airplanes seen flitting amongst the buildings in Fritz Lang's ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. They may not have looked like cars, but they seemed to fill the same function. This was probably also the TropeMaker for the whole "throw in some flying cars zipping between giant buildings to establish that we're in TheFuture" thing, and it remains popular to this day.

** ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIVANewHope'': Luke's speeder is only ever a few inches off the ground, but it does fly, technically.
** ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIAttackOfTheClones'': The Coruscant speeder chase takes place through a SkyscraperCity where the air between the towers is criss-crossed by multiple layers of flying car traffic lanes.
** ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeVIIITheLastJedi'': According to supplementary fluff, the ski-speeders were originally designed for racing, similar to the pod racers in ''Film/StarWarsThePhantomMenace''. The Rebel Alliance acquired some of them and modified them as combat craft during the Galactic Civil War, and [[spoiler: The Resistance was forced to use a very beat-up handful of the remaining ski-speeders against the First Order a generation later.]]
** ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': All sorts of military and civilian [[AntiGravity repulsorlift]] vehicles abound. Speeder bikes (from ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeVIReturnOfTheJedi''), airspeeders, hovertrucks, pod racers, swoops...

* Common in ''Franchise/MassEffect'', due to the ubiquity of Element Zero-based technology. In the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', you even get to pilot one in a scene reminiscent of ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIAttackOfTheClones''. In the "Citadel" DLC for ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', a lawyer can be overheard telling someone that this makes [[AmbulanceChaser chasing ambulances]] a very bad idea.

--> '''Luke''': "Professor, where did you learn to fly a plane?"
--> '''Layton''': "Plane? This is an automobile."

* One of the first things Billy did in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' once he started getting savvy with alien technology was make a flying Volkswagen Beetle he dubbed the "Rad Bug". Yes, they could, technically, teleport if they wanted to, but even Billy could tell that a flying car was cooler. And it did come in handy the times they ''couldn't'' teleport.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** In Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Batman and Robin'', Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne have a flying Batmobile.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Cavewoman}}'', Gramps had a flying motorcycle.
* ''ComicBook/{{Chassis}}'' was a comic book series built around the sport of rocket car racing.
* ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' uses magnetic levitation cars and trains that hover less than ten feet off the ground. It's handwaved that maglev-equipped vehicles are cheaper and easier than building and maintaining roads.
* In one [[ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics Disney Comics]] WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck story, some aliens crash-land on Earth and, seeing Donald's pie delivery van, mistake it for a spaceship since it looks very much like their spaceship and subsequently turn it into a literal flying car while trying to "fix a few things."
* The ComicBook/FantasticFour's Fantasti-Car.
* Common in the world of ''ComicBook/FunkyKoval''. Some even have special features like onboard defense systems.

* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': Tony Stark's flying Ferrari also counts.
* Maglev cars are standard in ''ComicBook/Marvel2099'''s Nueva York, not least because it's a LayeredMetropolis where nobody who can afford it goes to ground level.
* Asrial from ''ComicBook/NinjaHighSchool'' converts a junked car into one as part of a challenge if she qualified for a job as a mechanic. It's later used as the protagonist's main transportation around town.
* In ''ComicBook/TheScrameustache'', Hover Tanks are used by the invading aliens Togons.
* ComicBook/SheHulk once had a flying car (a gift from a benevolent alien) but later lost it.
* In the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'', ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} has a small fleet of flying cars.
* ComicBook/SpaceCabbie is a cabbie. In space. He ferries his fares around in Cab #7433 in the second half of the 22nd Century.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

** In ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'', villain Klax-Ar salvages and repurposes the remains of a broken-down ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Robot into a weaponized, flying sled.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermansReturnToKrypton'', every vehicle in Krypton is a flying car. Superman even happens upon a jet-taxi.

** The Whiz Wagon, used by ComicBook/JimmyOlsen and the Newsboy Legion during Creator/JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' series.

* ''Film/TheFlyingCar'', a short film taking place in Film/TheViewAskewniverse. Stuck in traffic, Randall and Dante discuss what they would hypothetically be willing to do to get the flying car. Randall badgers Dante by upping the ante until the latter relents and says he would be willing to have his foot hacked off and be sodomized by a MadScientist in exchange for the flying car.
-->'''Randall:''' [[HypocriticalHumor You'd do it with a bunch of guys just to get a car?]]

* The entire point of ''VideoGame/FZero''

** In ''Literature/SpaceCadet'' the protagonist is picked up by a helicopter, which doesn't seem too strange [[ZeeRust until you realise it's a personal helicopter that his family fly themselves]], their version of a family car. Earlier the FarmBoy protagonist mentions getting his [[KidsDrivingCars copter license at the age of 12]].

* ''Film/TheFifthElement'' has lots of these, of course. TheHero even drives a flying taxi for a living.

* In ''Literature/CaptainFrenchOrTheQuestForParadise'', they are common on developed worlds. Very useful for traveling great distances. The primary non-aquatic mode of transportation on Solaris, as the deficit of land means that roads are a no-no. How they work is never explained, especially since it's clear that ArtificialGravity hasn't been discovered in this 'verse.

* Asrial from ''ComicBook/NinjaHighSchool'' converts a junked car into one as part of a challenge if she qualified for a job as a mechanic. It later used as the protagonist main transportation around town.

* ''ComicBook/TrishTrashRollergirlOfMars'': All vehicles on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} have semi-circular devices in place of thair wheels that propel them off the ground.

* The heroes main transportation in the first half of ''ComicBook/IHuntMonsters''is one named Kirby that they use to get around the world.

The lack of flying cars in RealLife is a [[IWantMyJetpack common complaint]]. When people think of flying cars, they generally mean a vehicle that looks, drives and behaves exactly like an automobile... except flying. Otherwise you could say we already have them in the form of helicopters and small planes. This would require some rather fanciful technology for a vehicle to get off the ground without wings or a rotor system in place. This is usually handwaved with some mention of an antigravity device. Nowadays, this trope is rarely played straight, at least not in its most literal form. The idea of flying vehicles being as common as cars in the future is still frequently used, but in modern works they're more likely to look like [[FutureCopter futuristic VTOL aircraft]] than actual cars that fly. It's also possible that with climate change now a primary concern, and with it the realisation that car emissions contribute a huge chunk to greenhouse gases, pollution and climate change effects, depictions of cars flying en masse may start to smack of environmental disregard, especially as less and less people today are opting to drive ''on-the-ground'' cars, in favour of taking—or demanding, if they don't have—mass public transit.

* [[http://www.terrafugia.com/ This lot]] look like they might be close to actually selling [[{{Transformers}} transforming]] flying cars commercially. Hope you have $200,000 on you, though.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[Film/BackToTheFuture Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads...]]"]]

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline'' saw the return of the Deluxo (previously only seen in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCityStories Vice City Stories]]'' as a land-based vehicle based on the [[Film/BackToTheFuture DeLorean DMC-12]]) as one of these. It also has [[WeaponizedCar a small arsenal]] onboard. The Oppressor Mk. II, meanwhile, is a hoverbike with a similarly robust arsenal. Both vehicles, incidentally, have [[DemonicSpiders a rather storied reputation]] among the game's fans as the weapon of choice for every {{troll}} and {{griefer}} due to how easy it is to kill other players with them.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'' features cars that can turn into hang gliders.
** And, in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'', the karts transform into a hovercraft for certain portions of certain tracks. Complete with fold-down wheels ala ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''.

* In ''VideoGame/WarioLand4'', you can upgrade Wario's car into a hovercraft by beating the game on Super Hard Mode.
* Dribble and Spitz's taxi in the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series is capable of flight and space travel.

* Present in many of the futuristic scenes featured in ''Animation/TheMindsEye'' series. Most often shown to be barely car-like but nonetheless the common vehicle for the intended period. ''The Gate'' features these with visible aerodynamic surfaces and thrusters, and a particular sequence follows one vehicle driving like [[DrivesLikeCrazy an absolute lunatic]], bouncing off scenery and having a head-on with a clearly-marked wall.

** Also, Speedor of ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' / the Eagle Racer of ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' is a zord that's half-sports car, half-bird (condor in ''Go-Onger'', eagle in ''RPM''); and has a flight mode in line with the "bird" half. ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' and ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'' later introduce its successor Machalcon / the Turbo Falcon zord (half-formula racer, half-falcon) who likewise has flight ability.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': One of these is seen in the background on Earth in the series finale.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': There are several outside the window in the scene "3000 years ago" in episode 8.

-> '''Luke''': Professor, where did you learn to fly a plane?\\
'''Layton''': Plane? This is an automobile.

* ''Manga/TrinityBlood'' has an aerodynamics-challenged version.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' featured a fantasy sequence by Lightning [=McQueen=] where he becomes '''Dinoco Lightning Storm [=McQueen=]''', flies through the air, and dispatches evil tripods with missiles. Given that his very next fantasy involves opening nights and the Hollywood Walk of fame, he ''may'' have been fantasising about film-star ambitions.

* The 2009 Russian film ''Film/BlackLightning'' is a superhero movie where the protagonist is given a '66 Volga that has been used for a SovietSuperscience project. There's a UpgradeVsPrototypeFight involving a flying Mercedes with upgraded technology piloted by the BigBad.

There have been some real-life attempts at combining cars and aircraft, but rather than flying cars, they're better described as "road-able aircraft," basically small planes whose wings can be folded/removed so they can be driven on normal roads. However, the idea has never gotten off the ground (pun intended) for the same reason combined baseball/football stadiums went out of style: their functional needs are so different, making something that does both only succeeds in making it ''lousy'' at both. Such vehicles are expensive, clunky to operate in either form, and not the least bit fuel-efficient. One of the more serious problems is that as they are, in the eyes of the law, both automobiles ''and'' aircraft, meaning they require ''both'' [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a driver's license and a private pilot's license to operate]]. Still, there are attempts to fix this problem. The most difficult problem to solve will be that flying a plane requires significantly more skill and training than driving a car.[[note]]This is why far fewer people have pilot's licenses than driver's licenses, and why professional pilots are a better-paid and more prestigious job than most (though not all) professional drivers.[[/note]]

There have been some real-life attempts at combining cars and aircraft, but rather than flying cars, they're better described as "road-able aircraft," basically small planes whose wings can be folded/removed so they can be driven on normal roads. However, the idea has never gotten off the ground (pun intended) for the same reason combined baseball/football stadiums went out of style: their functional needs are so different, making something that does both only succeeds in making it ''lousy'' at both. Such vehicles are expensive, clunky to operate in either form, and not the least bit fuel-efficient. One of the more serious problems is that as they are, in the eyes of the law, both automobiles ''and'' aircraft, meaning they require ''both'' [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a driver's licence and a private pilot's licence to operate]]. Still, there are attempts to fix this problem.

* In recent years, there has been a trend for proposing that human-carrying quadcopter drones could fill many of the functions of cars, such as taxis, police vehicles, ambulances, and even personal transport. Dubai, for example, hopes to introduce "drone taxi" services sometime in the 2020s. While the drones certainly look nothing like cars, their intended function makes them in many ways the most recent incarnation of the flying car idea--and quite possibly the most likely to see widespread use.

* In recent years, there has been a trend for proposing that human-carrying quadcopter drones could fill many of the functions of cars, such as taxis, police vehicles, ambulances, and even personal transport. Dubai, for example, hopes to introduce "drone taxi" services by 2020. While the drones certainly look nothing like cars, their intended function makes them in many ways the most recent incarnation of the flying car idea--and quite possibly the most likely to see widespread use.