Is This Flying Car Company For Real?

We’ve been promised a flying car for as long as I can remember. From The Jetsons to Back To The Future, we’ve been sold this dream for years and years. Owning something that starts out on the ground and ends up flying through the air is something I want to experience before I kick the bucket.

The TF-X promises to:
– be a plug-in hybrid on the ground
– drive like a normal car
– have a range of over 500 miles
– fit inside a single-car garage

It’s expected to hit the market in 2021.

Still, I’m sold. But is this company for real? Who are they? Well Terrafugia was founded in 2006 and won an MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, then started raising seed funding. To date, the company has raised $5.8 million.

Its first project, the Transition, went from prototyping to flying in about two years. It’s a street legal “car” that transforms into a plane and back.

Terrafugia was also tapped as a subcontractor on a project funded by DARPA calledTransformer in 2010. In essence, the $65 million project aimed to build a “flying Humvee.”