The flying car has arrived

In a relatively short time, the dreams of sci-fi and Jetson fans will finally be realized: the flying car has arrived. (I can just hear the collective groan of the environmental community.)

Let me repeat that: someone has finally designed a flying car. According to Newsweek, in two years MIT student Carl Dietrich plans to have his flying car (named the Transition) on the road and in the air, and selling for about $100,000:

The Transition runs on regular gas. But you can drive it to the airport, extend its origami-like wings, take off at double the highway speed and fly up to 500 miles away, then touch down and park it in your host’s garage. With the wings folded, the Transition is about the size of an Escalade, with a little less cargo space. Of course, it’s a little more difficult to maneuver — it requires a sport pilot’s license — so it’s not likely to replace your standard flightless car. “It’s not like every Joe Schmo and soccer mom on a cell phone is going to be driving one,” says Dietrich, an MIT grad student who won the school’s top prize for young innovators.

And just to top that, his next project will be: a desktop nuclear-fusion reactor. Really. Read the press release.

(Via BB)