Volkswagen Hover Car: Are Flying Cars The Model Of The Future? (VIDEO)

The days of the hovercraft are upon us. As Google's self-driving cars prepare to roll out onto the streets of Nevada, Volkswagen one-ups everyone with its concept design for a hover car.

The Volkswagen hover car is a product of the "People's Car Project" in China, which called upon customers to contribute design ideas for Volkswagen's model of the future.

The crowd-sourcing initiative debuted in China last year and, to date, has inspired 33 million website visitors to submit 119,000 ideas.

The hovercraft, as seen in the concept video above, uses electromagnetic levitation to float along its own grid above the regular road network; distance sensors keep the craft from colliding with other vehicles. The disc-shaped pod seats two people and is controlled by a joystick that offers amazing maneuverability. The car can move both back-and-forth and side-to-side and can even spin on an axis. To top it off, the concept car produces zero emissions.

Along with the hover car concept, Volkswagen presented two other ideas from the "People's Car Project" at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show. Though the hover car is by far the coolest, the music car, which causes the exterior color of the car to change with the driver's choice of music, is a close second. Volkswagen also debuted an advanced touchscreen smart key that features information about crucial vehicle functions.

Volkswagen Director of Marketing Luca de Meo told the audience that the innovative ideas derived from the crowd-sourcing project mark the beginning of a new era.

“We are no longer just building cars for, but also with customers and at the same time initiating a national dialog which gives us a deep insight into the design preferences, needs and requirements of Chinese customers,” de Meo said during the event.

Check out other hovercrafts and flying cars in the gallery below.

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• British Pathe's Hover Scooter In 1960

  Looks like we weren't so behind the times in 1960.

• The Terrafugia Transition

  Read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/terrafugia-transition-fly_n_630578.html" target="_hplink">the story</a> behind this flying car.

• President Obama And The Hovercraft

  President Obama convinces <em>New York Times</em> reporter Sheryl Stolberg to <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/05/president_obama_and_the_white.html" target="_hplink">try out a small hovercraft</a>.

• Urban Aeronautics' 'X-Hawk' Hover Car Prototype

  This vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) machine <a href="http://www.israelmuse.com/2010/08/tech-israel-invents-worlds-first-flying.html" target="_hplink">runs on two fans</a> and is designed to stay in the air for an hour.

• PAL-V Flying Car

  Read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/flying-cars-finally-here-_n_1399632.html" target="_hplink">the story</a> behind this flying car.

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Comments

[Shibam Sarbswa]

01:57 PM on 05/09/2013

Dear admin,
I have just been through this website and found that this new concept of Flying car..
I will be very happy if u tell me something about this project happening in India.

Regards
shibam
[e-mail]

[ToLearn]

03:20 PM on 01/02/2013

Can anyone on the Web translate this video to English?!?

[Khalsa Lakhwinder Singh]

11:05 AM on 12/30/2012

Amazing This Flying Car Dear I Like It Too Much & I Love It

[James Brandon Klawon]

12:12 PM on 12/25/2012

I really do like you HuffPo but you science section sucks.

[MrLucasBrice]

10:34 AM on 08/02/2012

To Sara Gates,

You realize by now that the VW hover car isn't real, right? It's CGI that illustrates a concept.

[Twidget0831]

11:46 AM on 11/15/2012

Who cares? She's BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Bhagyashree Bangar]

06:07 PM on 08/01/2012

very excellent ..........flying future of world towords sucess......

[Hashim R Hathaway]

11:08 PM on 05/30/2012

This is horsewater. I ain't buying it.

[emrogers]

07:38 AM on 07/11/2012

I am - I just ordered one.

[andycooke]

02:14 PM on 05/28/2012

Won't help tire sales. Perhaps that is a good thing.

[crydespite]

03:04 AM on 05/14/2012

"The hovercraft, as seen in the concept video above, uses electromagnetic levitation to float along its own grid above the regular road network"

but when you read the article you find that the road has to have been fitted with a bunch of field-generating capacity, making it a tad unlikely to work down the side street shown in the picture

"distance sensors keep the craft from colliding with other vehicles."

which are probably the least of your worries

"The disc-shaped pod seats two people and is controlled by a joystick that offers amazing maneuverability. "

It doesn't EXIST yet!

"The car can move both back-and-forth and side-to-side and can even spin on an axis. "

which could be fun depending on the axis chosen

"To top it off, the concept car produces zero emissions."

and every five miles, prints you a brand new $500 note. Come ON - the concept says no emissions, how will it be done? and what about the embedded structure in the road, without which this won't even roll, let alone hover? And I hope those folks sitting nearby in the photo don't have pacemakers.

sorry to be skeptical but, well, seen it all before. back in the late 60s. and I still haven't got my jetpack.

[wolf1805]

01:23 PM on 04/16/2013

vw and dyson should get together with his airblade technology and there projects they could make a air propelled hover car that really can come off the ground iv studied dyson tech for awhile now it can be done.

[eric14]

11:52 AM on 05/13/2012

The dynasphere is crunchier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvA7hDh_vhY

Then South Park did it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1y4RRWm3xw

They didn't fly. Neither did the VW

[Wookiee1972]

10:22 AM on 05/11/2012

I believe we were promised hover*boards*, thank you very much.

I dunno, though. People who have no business on the road may be in the air now?

[RobJames]

11:00 PM on 05/10/2012

I heard they are using the same manufacturer who made Mary Poppins' umbrella

[euromarkusx]

10:32 PM on 05/10/2012

Mitt Romney just took credit for this

[josadies]

09:11 PM on 10/21/2012

Romney really bothers you don't he. Threats always do...

[tdwfl]

12:06 PM on 04/03/2013

They do. Don't even think to mention Palin, although I fail to see why they fear her so much.

[LightShadow62]

12:03 PM on 05/10/2012

Interesting concept, too bad we are no where near having the technology to make anything but the shell of the vehicle.

[Bruce vain]

09:37 AM on 05/10/2012

no just don't do it...