The BlackFly, also called a sleek, conical, somewhat confusing flying car, like what Hollywood would give a sci-fi hero to rescue faster. It is not a helicopter not a plane either; it is a cross between both, with a curved hull, two small wings, and eight spinning rotors aligned on its nose and tail.

"It may look like a weird beast, but it will change the way transportation goes," said Marcus Leng, the Canadian inventor who conceived the plane named BlackFly.

Marcus Leng refers to his invention as an electric personal aviation vehicle, a plane so easy to fly that you just need a little training and no license in hand. Engineers and entrepreneurs like Marcus Leng have spent more than a decade developing this new breed of aircraft, electric vehicles that can take off and land without runways.

Fun things to discover about the flying car.

Computer-controlled flight. With just a press on a computer screen in a nearby tent, it powers up, rising from a grassy slope on a central California ranch and speeding toward cattle grazing under a tree.

No need for a landing strip. Just state where you want to go and the car will fly for you within two to three minutes. When you arrive, it lands safely for you. You always have the final decision on the safety of the landing. In a matter of seconds, the plane transforms into a car, providing true door-to-door transportation.

Two electric motors and a megawatt of power lift you up. Dr. Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford University computer science professor who founded Google's autonomous car project, now says autonomy will be far more powerful in the air than on the ground, and will enter our daily lives much sooner. "You can fly in a straight line and you don't have the massive weight or stop-and-go of a car on the ground”, he said.

What is the goal of the inventors of flying vehicles?

They envisioned the vehicles would be cheaper and safer than helicopters, and could offer virtually anyone a way to fly over crowded streets.

"Our dream is to free the world from traffic. " said Thrun

Currently, dozens of companies are building these aircrafts, and three of them recently agreed to go public in deals that value them at up to $6 billion. Others are building larger vehicles that they hope will roll out as urban air cabs as early as 2024 - an Uber for the sky. Some others are designing vehicles that can fly unmanned.

Sources: The New York Times, Aeromobil, Pal V, British Broadcasting Corporation