Will there ever be hover cars?

Question

I mean they got everything else right about the 21st century in the last century, why are there no hovercars then?

Answer 1

Yeah. If it is possible, and a 'hover car' could be something mass-produced effieciently I still don't think our society could handle it.

We should be devoting our energies to alternate fuels-renuable resources (hydrogen cars). Learning to rid ourselves of our oil dependancy.

Answer 2

Well... it depends on what you do call "a hovercar".

If you mean a personal vehicle that can move not touching the ground, they are known for years already: hovercraft. They move on a cushion of highly-pressurized air that is blown under the vehicle by it's engines. They are used mostly by military, but there are other purposes for them too.
Some models are actually small enough to be compared to cars - local police here has a few of them, they are used to patrol lakes and swamps.
Whereas they are great machines, they are no wonder-cars by any way. Hovercraft are fuel hogs, and their maneuverability is poor (mostly because they do not touch the ground, so they can't steer like cars - only more like planes in the air). It would be simply dangerous to allow them into city streets. Also, the "cushion" tends to blow objects that get under it - away. Since those objects can be fairly heavy (like stones or empty bottles) they can be dangerous to those nearby.

If you mean "hovercraft" like landspeeders in, say, Star Wars movies, then no. This would require some way of negating gravity, and modern science doesn't know how it could be acheived, even theoretically. AFAIK, most sciencists claim it to be impossible, period.

You can create a vehicle that will levitate in magnetic field. Magnetic-cushion vehicles do already exist, however, as for now they are only trains (they need special rail to emit magnetic field - and keep the train from flying away and crashing, since it emits another magnetic field of the same polarity, keeping it from the rail). They are very fast and give incredibly smooth ride. However, they are very expensive as well, and technologically compicated. Plus, they need a very careful power application. It would be very difficult to reproduce this effect with a car, since you do not have a single powered rail there. Although I suppose that one day sciencists will overcome this problem. Whether this will prove to be cost-effective, is an another question.

Or maybe you ask for a true "flying car"? AFAIK, at least one does exist. It looks a bit like the one in the Jetsons cartoons, having smooth hull with four moveable gondolas containing turbine engines that allow it to fly. I've heard some time ago that it was to undergo official tests and receive a certification allowing it into American skies. However, you'll need a poper pilot's licence to drive it, since it's closer to a helicopter than a regular car - much more demanding. I belive it was named "Aircar", and was supposed to look like this: http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/dynaweb_docs/0650/SGI_Developer/books/Perf_PG/sgi_html/figures/09.07.iv.gif

Answer 3

It's not likely that it'll happen within this decade, but a certain professor in a college somewhere in USA's southern states working on a project to make a car that can actually levitate using some sort of magnetism. We're close, it's true, but in a way we're so far. It'll happen, but slowly. The thing is that, as they say, necessity is the only thing that can really make it come soon, but since they're not yet needed, we might as well enjoy what the present has to offer. But yes, they'll be invented, if not mass produced, within this century.

Answer 4

I believe people actually HAVE made hovercars, they're just too expensive to mass-produce as of yet.

Answer 5

Some people have created them. The problem is, it takes more energy to get them to move than it's worth. One time on MythBusters (on the Discovery Channel), each tried to build one. Both worked, but the best one was built using 3 leaf blowers--2 to propel it, and one to guide it.

Answer 6

There have been hover cars since the late fifties, or so. The army had one in the early sixties. Search old "Popular Mechanics" or "Popular Science" mags.

Answer 7

There will be if *I* have anything to say on the matter! Zero point energy works by reducing the local gravity field. That means not only will they fly, but they won't cost for gasoline!

Answer 8

Yes, they're on the way. I believe that the government has vehicles that hover above water, but they're not used on land because they're not ready yet.

Answer 9

Yes but I don't think society as a whole can be responsible
enough to drive them.

Answer 10

We first need to find out how gravity works, then we can make a machine to counter it.