Flying Cars May Be a Reality Sooner Than You Think

The news: If you're sick of morning traffic, this might be a tantalizing prospect for you: flying cars.

Airborne cars have been a common sci-fi trope, planted firmly in the realm of fiction — until now. Slovakian company AeroMobil is set to present a production-ready prototype of its Flying Roadster later this month; it can run on a single tank of gas for 430 miles, and tops out at 124 mph in the air.

"In terms of automobile configuration, it fits to a standard parking space, its engine enables it to tank at any gas station, it is fully accustomed to road traffic and as a plane it could both take off and land at any airport in the world," reads the company website.

Check it out in action:

Is this really practical? While a flying car is a childhood fantasy come true, there are still the questions of how expensive it would be and how much people would pay for such a vehicle. And while a driving road test is one thing, there are very few people who are actually qualified to fly a huge hunk of metal — especially at high speed.

And AeroMobil is not alone: U.S. company Terrafugia has also built a prototype, which is slated for production in 2016 and will cost around $300,000. A hundred people have already pre-ordered the vehicle, and they will need to have a pilot license and pass a flying test to drive it. It's a big investment, but that's the price of having your childhood dream come to life.