Whilst such a car might seem far from reality, Bell Helicopters is taking a serious look -- they are teaming up with inventor Rafi Yoeli’s Urban Aeronautics to explore X-Hawk’s potential.

The flying car has not been conceived merely as a new form of personal transportation, but a new way for rescue and emergency services to reach the stricken and stranded.

The X-Hawk is essentially a helicopter without the rotor and hence the need to roll in order to move left and right. This makes it an ideal urban rescue vehicle, able to manoeuver in tight spaces that would prevent conventional helicopter from gaining access.

“The reality is that we have not been designing helicopters to operate in urban environments,” said M.E. Rhett Flater, executive director of the American Helicopter Society.

“What Rafi is doing is addressing that need to design some kind of vehicle that can operate in an urban environment, that can get close to buildings and skyscrapers, and provide some type of relief for people stranded in buildings."

Yoeli began work on the X-Hawk and Mule in 2000, but Flater said that 9/11 had 'given vertical takeoff and landing vehicles a new priority'.

“The military is learning that they have to fight wars in cities again,” he said. “So we’re looking at unmanned aerial vehicles that can provide reconnaissance. Obviously the next step would be to look for vehicles...that can provide actual relief in urban areas.”

Yoeli's original inspiration was a flying sports car. But the regulatory issues that would have to be resolved before masses of commuters could start travelling to work through the air ended that dream.

But the urge 'to get up vertically' drove him on to develop the X-Hawk.

“You sit in a traffic jam, and everyone gets this urge: I want to get up now, and over this,” he said. “You need a certain kind of machine. I think X-Hawk can do it.”