Hurry and you might just get your bid in for a DARPA contract to demonstrate a flying car. The deadline for proposal submissions is Jan. 14. Before you strap some wings onto your Yugo, you might want to check what DARPA is looking for. Just any old folding-wing flying car won't pass muster - not even the Terrafugia Transition, which is about to fly in proof-of-concept form.

No, DARPA doesn't want a two-seat light sport aircraft that can toddle down the road but needs a runway to take off and land on. It wants a scout/transport vehicle that can carry 2-4 people, drive at speeds up to 60mph, take off and land vertically from unprepared surfaces, and fly for 2 hours at airspeeds up to 150mph. It wants a vehicle that can be driven manually, but flown automatically - "with manual flight control units that can override the fully automatic system". Well it wouldn't be DARPA if it didn't push the envelope a bit.

The Transition might be a good starting point, however. According to Terrafugia, it can drive at 65mph and cruise a 115mph, with a take-off distance (over a 50ft obstacle) of 1,700ft and a range of 460 miles. With the wing folded it fits within the desired dimensions, too. There's just that little matter of vertical take-off and landing.

Not that there is a shortage of ideas out there. There is a whole web sub-culture devoted to "It's 2009 and where's my flying car?" And quite right, too. There is of course the decades-in-development, will-it-ever-work Moller Skycar, but even they have a new idea - the Autovolantor, which is basically a vertical take-off and landing Ferrari (oh, and it's a hybrid for good measure). 

Model: Moller International

There must be some sensible ideas out there. One of the more practical-looking personal air vehicle designs I have seen was actually referenced in DARPA's call for proposals - the Dutch PAL-V. which is a hybrid of a car, a motorcycle and a gyrocopter that could fly this year.

Concept: PAL-V Europe

There is also the Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk - another design referenced by DARPA - which is more of an alternative to the helicopter rather than a flying car, but it is designed to take off and land vertically. The Israeli company plans to fly the prototype of an unmanned version, the Mule, during 2009.

Video: Bell Helicopter/Urban Aeronautics

Maybe DARPA will succeed where others have failed. The agency plans a three-stage program. Phase 1 involves modeling and simulation of a personal air vehicle concept; Phase 2 testing of key component technologies; and Phase 3 (if it ever gets that far) the demonstration of a full-scale flying/driving prototype. I have my fingers crossed, but I'll keep my eye on Terrafugia - and there's always the Yugo in the garage.