The Terrafugia XF-T flying car concept. Source: Supplied
AS carmakers go, Terrafugia is a niche company. In fact, let's call it "super-niche" - because Terrafugia makes flying cars.
They're not as cool-looking as the rides you've seen in movies and comic books since you were a kid, but they are cars, and they do fly - and Terrafugia's latest model goes one step further.
That model is called the Terrafugia XF-T. And their video reveal of the concept shows it expands on the company's existing Transition vehicle by offering helicopter-like rotors, which allow the XF-T to take off and land vertically.
According to the folks at US-based Terrafugia, flying the XF-T "should be statistically safer than driving a modern automobile". That's in part because the XF-T "will be capable of automatically avoiding other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace".
Some of us look at Terrafugia and shrug, convinced that this is, quite literally, a whole lot of pie in the sky. But Terrafugia appears in it to win it - and has been pushing hard on developing their folding-wing Transition model.
Though the Transition has been significantly delayed in rolling out to consumers, it has been approved by the US Department of Transportation and by the Federal Aviation Administration. In short, the Transition won't be a high-volume vehicle, but it's clearly on its way.
For now, we'll assume that the company feels equally strongly about the XF-T.
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