The idea has been around for many years, but only now are hybrid car-airplanes coming of age. This interesting promo video shows off the KleinVision AirCar (details here), which was type-certified for flight in January 2022 by the Slovak Transport Authority, but is not yet certified in the U.S. nor is it approved for road use anywhere, although that will come.
I couldn’t find an estimated price. If it goes into mass production, that would bring costs down, but I suspect it’ll still be out of reach for most people. (Think $1 million-plus.) You’ll need a pilot’s license to fly it, which also will greatly limit its potential market.
It’s billed as a way to beat highway congestion, but if it has to fly out of conventional airports, it’ll have no advantages in that respect over existing small private planes. As a general rule, it’s not safe to take off or land on roads, because of speed limits (its takeoff speed is 75mph), road traffic, and the proximity of trees and powerlines to roadways.
Its practicality also is limited by having only 2 seats, little if any trunk space, and weather. You can drive in almost any weather, but that’s not true of airplanes; you’d be limited to flying it in VFR (visual flight rules) conditions, unless you have expensive avionics, an instrument rating, and properly equipped airports to take off and land at.
And like hybrid designs in general, it’s unlikely to excel as either a car or an airplane, because of the design compromises that have to be made to get it to function as both. You’d probably be better off, and save money, by buying a sports car for driving and a Cessna for flying.
So even though the engineering challenges have been overcome, it’s more a novelty than anything else, and I foresee daunting price and practicality barriers to broad market acceptance. If it reaches the market, it’s more likely to be a rich man’s toy.
Still, I could see some practical uses for it by business people who find it convenient and time-saving to part-drive and part-fly between scattered business locations. For example, if you’re a McDonalds franchisee with multiple locations across the state, it may be advantageous to drive from a location to the nearest airport, fly to an airport near another location in half the time it would take to drive there, then drive there from the airport, all without having to mess with rental cars or arrange airplane parking at the airports. This could make it possible to visit several locations in a single work day, weather cooperating, and that might justify its high cost compared to a car or conventional airplane.