People have pictured cars that fly for well over a century. Recently, Elon Musk gave that old idea fresh attention by showing a car that launched itself off the ground in front of a crowd.
The car is not a plane, and it does not stay in the air for long. Still, it raises a familiar question about how close the world is to flying vehicles. What once existed only in science fiction novels and inventors' sketchbooks is steadily shifting toward technological reality.
This gallery traces the origins of flying machines, the aerocars of the past century, and the current technology powering today’s flying concept cars. Click on to learn more.