Flying cars don’t seem to be far way. Super Sky Cycle, Moller’s M200G Volantor, Urban Aeronautics’ X-Hawk and the PAL-V flying car have already gone into production. The next in the line is the Terrafugia Transition flying car. The news of this flying car is there around the blogosphere for around two years and now, they have plans to get the thing flying before the end of next year. This summer, a group of MIT alums demonstrated its folding wing at the annual AirVenture aviation festival in Oshkosh, WI. The light sport aircraft functioned perfectly, and it opened and closed over 500 times. For many years, researchers believed aero-auto hybrid vehicles would be commercial failures but now, MIT scientists are hopeful of being on the way to overcome existing problems. Anyway, the next challenge for the team is to design an engine that can power the $148,000 Terrafugia Transition flying car on the ground and in the air.

via Gizmodo110505