Cars.com Inc

Right now, on a big screen near you, Ryan Gosling's character in "Blade Runner 2049" is piloting a flying car known as a "Spinner" to hunt down renegade androids – replicants.

The flying car is an idea so old it's almost timeless.

But I trace its modern beginnings back to 1926, when Henry Ford himself showed off the "sky flivver" – a tiny, 350-pound, single-seat monoplane – to the press.

Call it a "sky flivver," a "plane car," a "personal aircraft," or a "flying car"… we've been waiting a long time.

Now mark my word. It will come.

You may smile, or even laugh. Feel free.

But the fact is, flying cars are coming – fast.

In fact, one company I've followed closely for decades just bought a startup focused on autonomous air taxis.