Formula 1 in the skies: could flying cars soon be a reality?

Australian startup Alauda Aeronautics believes racing holds the key to viable flying cars [File: Alauda Aeronautics]

Adelaide, Australia – Since the 1980s, inventors have been promising to turn the flying cars of Back to the Future and The Jetsons into reality.

Companies including Toyota, AirBus, Hyundai, and Kitty Hawk, a project backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, are still racing to develop the first commercially viable Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicle – and cash in on an embryonic industry that Morgan Stanley predicts will be worth a trillion dollars by 2040.