It's not quite the Jetsons, but the Terrafugia Transition is a flying car, and it has successfully made its maiden flight.
To be perfectly honest, however, Terrafugia calls the Transition a roadable aircraft rather than a flying car. They say:
Perfect for trips between 100 and 500 miles, the Transition is not designed to replace anyone's automobile.
In other words, it's not all that fun to drive, and it's not all that great on gas mileage. Hence more of a grounded airplane than a flying car.
The flying car does, however, use unleaded automotive gasoline.
The Transition is a two-seater, with foldable wings. Size-wise, the Transition stands 6'9" tall and 80" wide, one inch wider than a Cadillac Escalade. When in airplane mode its wingspan is 27'6". T
Transforming from plane to car takes less than 30 seconds, and I assume vice versa, so you could take off and be flying 30 seconds after driving to the airport (more or less; I'm leaving out all the official flight checks and clearance, natch).
However, this is just a proof-of-concept model; actual customer delivery won't be until 2011. That's a long way off for those wanting a flying car.
Watch the flight video of the flying car attached to this post.
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