Wow! This car will make you forget every vehicle you ever covetted

Boeing Co said on Wednesday its flying car prototype hovered briefly in the air during an inaugural test flight, a small but significant step as the world`s largest planemaker bids to revolutionise urban transportation and parcel delivery services. Boeing is competing with arch-rival Airbus SE and numerous other firms to introduce small self-flying vehicles capable of vertical takeoff and landing.  Image source: Reuters

The investments, fuelled by leaps in autonomous technology as much as frustration with road congestion, could change the face of the aerospace industry within the next decade. Boeing's 30-foot-long (9 meter) aircraft - part helicopter, part drone and part fixed-wing plane - lifted a few feet off the ground and made a soft landing after less than a minute of being airborne on Tuesday at an airport in Manassas, Virginia, Boeing said. Future flights will test forward, wing-borne flight.  Image source: Reuters

Major hurdles to Boeing`s vision of "low-stress" mobility - as it is called in the company`s marketing materials - include sorting out numerous critical safety and regulatory issues to meld traditional roadway traffic with fleets of flying cars. Image source: Reuters

Boeing is working with startup SparkCognition Inc and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to develop a traffic-management system for three-dimensional highways, as well as the regulatory framework that will allow waves of autonomous vehicles to zip safely around buildings, the company has said.  Image source: Reuters

Boeing bought Manassas-based Aurora Flight Sciences last year to speed development of a fleet of autonomous air vehicles. With Aurora, Boeing is also working on Uber Technologies Inc`s [UBER.UL] UberAIR service for flights that are planned to be available for order via smartphones around 2023. Image source: Twitter/Boeing

Boeing is looking to achieve a range of 50 miles with two flying car variants capable of carrying two and four passengers each. Tests are planned for later this year on a package-hauling version that can lift up to 500 pounds (226.8 kg).  Image source: Twitter/Boeing

Competitors range from Airbus, which says it has already conducted numerous flying vehicle test flights, to Volocopter, which has tested drone taxis that resemble a small helicopter powered by 18 rotors, and AeroMobil, with a stretch-limousine concept that can turn into a fixed-wing aircraft. Vertical Aerospace, which completed a flight test last year, aims to offer short inter-city flights in the coming years with a piloted aircraft capable of carrying multiple passengers.  Image source: Twitter/Boeing