Time marches on, and maybe...up

Here we are in 2018 already—the 19th year of this century. (Or 18th depending on whether you think the 21st Century began on January 1, 2001.) Do we have flying cars yet? No, but we do have those so-called hoverboards that "hover" on wheels. That's like saying we'll have flying cars if we attach wings and "flew" down the highways at 100mph. It's all in the hype.

But we are making progress. It won't be long before we can get into our car, push a few buttons or insert some kind of media that will start the car and take us to our destination while all occupants sit and look out the windows, take a nap, hop in the back seat and...well, I'll leave the rest of that last one to your imagination. The self-driving cars that have hit the road in recent times are just the beginning.

Occasionally, we hear or read about a plane that makes an emergency landing on a highway. Like anything mechanical, aircraft do have mechanical problems. If your car overheats or starts making a weird noise, you can just pull over to the side of the road. If your plane does that, you'd better find a place and a way to land or else...

When cars start flying, possibly within our lifetime, will they drop out of the sky? Sad to say, I think they will—and often—until some kind of safety device or system can kick in and bring the car down safely to a place that's off to the side and out of the way to avoid disrupting others. There's more flexibility in a three-dimensional space than on a two-dimensional highway. As with the cars we drive today, a lot of engineering will be done over time to make improvements.

Will these vehicles still be known as "cars," or more formally, "automobiles" or will there be a new terminology? "Aeromobiles?" "Aircars?" "Aerocars?" We won't know till these vehicles appear.

An interesting thought is that there will no doubt be rules and regulations governing every aspect of the vehicles, the rules regarding right of way and operation of these aerocars, how they're equipped, and so on. If a driver/pilot breaks the rules, will some sort of flying police car take off and fly up behind them with red and blue lights going, meaning that they'd better land to receive their citation? Or will there be elevated platforms for this purpose? It will be interesting.

There will be some advantages to flying cars. No more pedestrians who will jaywalk and make us slam on our brakes, no more trains to wait for (until those start flying), no more potholes, no more puddles. We'll get to where we're headed much faster. Watching the scenery go by now can be interesting, but now we'll see everything from above as well, adding a new dimension to sightseeing.

There will be some disadvantages to flying cars. Mid-air collisions—sort of a new twist on the classic traffic accident.  Running into tall buildings in a single bound. Dropping things or throwing them from way up high. Of course there will be the idiots like we already see every day, only now with a new means to terrorize the highways. (If you think people do stupid things while driving now, wait till their cars fly!)

I will likely not be around when cars are flying. Maybe Diana's generation will see flying cars. We won't know till we get there. But I'm sure that the automotive and aerospace engineers are cooking up something.