The flying car, stubborn failure of a dream future

An object of fascination for over a century, the flying car embodies a missed opportunity. From promising advances to costly disappointments, its story tells of our disappointed hopes, our fear of risk and what our dreams of tomorrow say about our present.

In 1846, Emile Souvestre published Le Monde tel qu'il sera, a novel that imagines a Parisian couple of the time leaping into the future and waking up in the year 3000. Even before the automobile and the aeroplane had become everyday objects for the general public, Souvestre presents the reality of the year 3000 as one of cities with a variety of flying machines in the sky. An object of fantasy, the flying car continues to embody a certain idea of progress and the future.

Somewhat blunted by the recent lack of tangible innovation, the flying car is at the same time deve