---
title: "Flying Cars May Work Best When Tethered to Power Lines"
description: "To make flying cars more practical, one company suggests tethering them to the ground and making them run along a network of power lines."
date: "2018-09-14"
modified: "2018-09-14"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/flying-cars-tethered-power-lines"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "advanced transport"
  - "flying cars"
  - "infrastructure"
  - "transport"
  - "vtol"
---

# Flying Cars May Work Best When Tethered to Power Lines

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ｆｌｙｉｎｇ－ｃａｒ－ｐｏｗｅｒｌｉｎｅ.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Emily Cho\</em\>*

## LET'S GO FLY A KITE

Flying cars always work perfectly in the movies. But now that we’re close to actually building some, we’re finding they come with [all sorts of problems](<https://futurism.com/3-ubers-flying-taxis-soon-to-fly-in-dubai-and-dallas.md>). Perhaps the most prominent technological hurdle: striking the delicate balance between equipping the vehicles with a battery powerful enough to actually do anything useful, and not having a battery so heavy that it weighs down the entire vehicle.

One California start-up came up with a new solution that involves keeping so-called flying cars on a pretty short leash. Karman Electric proposes tethering [flying cars](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/evtol-flying-taxi-uk.md>) to a crisscrossed network of power lines. As *WIRED* reported, they already began [testing the concept with quadcopter drones](<https://www.wired.com/story/karman-electric-flying-car-air-taxi-power-lines/>).

## TRAFFIC JAM

Tethering a flying car to the ground may avoid the big battery problem, but it introduces a whole slew of *other* logistical problems.

In order to prevent bird strikes and collisions with primitive, terrestrial commuters, Karman envisions flying cars that use this upside-down trolley system in less populated areas (another problem: who's gonna pay for that?). As they approach cities and towns, pilots would be able to detach from their earthly bonds and use stored-up battery power to elevate above those land-bound suckers.

## HEY HERE'S A THOUGHT

If the most energy-efficient way to use a flying car is to tether it to the ground on a specific, pre-defined pathway, *why not just take a train*? We already have those, and they work pretty well.

**READ MORE:** To Solve Flying Cars' Biggest Problem, Tie Them to Power Lines \[*[WIRED](<https://www.wired.com/story/karman-electric-flying-car-air-taxi-power-lines/>)*\]

***More on the challenges of flying cars: [Uber Plans To Launch Flying Taxis With Technology That Doesn’t Exist](<https://futurism.com/uber-flying-taxis.md>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [DeLorean Aerospace Is Working on a Flying Car With a Range of 120 Miles](<https://futurism.com/delorean-aerospace-is-working-on-a-flying-car-with-a-range-of-120-miles.md>)
- [Study: Flying Cars Could End Up Being Greener Than Electric Cars](<https://futurism.com/flying-cars-greener-electric-cars.md>)
- [Google Co-Founder Was Reportedly Spotted in A Flying Car](<https://futurism.com/google-co-founder-was-reportedly-spotted-in-a-flying-car.md>)
- [Uber Taps NASA Expert to Make Flying Cars a Reality](<https://futurism.com/uber-taps-nasa-expert-to-make-flying-cars-a-reality.md>)
- [A Jetpack Company Is Coming Out With Flying Cars](<https://futurism.com/a-jetpack-company-is-coming-out-with-flying-cars.md>)
- [FAA Greenlights Adorable Flying Car for Test Flights](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/faa-greenlights-flying-car-test-flights.md>)
- [Airbus’ Electric Flying Taxis Are Set to Take to the Skies Next Year](<https://futurism.com/airbus-electric-flying-taxis-are-set-to-take-to-the-skies-next-year.md>)
- [Company Builds Electric Flying Car Powered By Giant Drone Propellers](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/electric-car-giant-drone-propellers.md>)