flying cars have existed in nearly every sci-fi world. And we could have them far sooner than imagined.

Flying cars have long been the staple of sci-fi films and books for decades and our youthful dreams of flying cars in our lifetime, perhaps sooner than we ever thought possibleSome companies are making literal leaps and bounds in this virgin territory and we could see the first of them released within just a few years.

These 11 are some of the closest and most interesting flying car projects that could be taxiing you around your local city very soon indeed. It seems the future, at least part of it, is tantalizingly close.  

1. Terrafugia TF-XFounded in 2006 by a team of MIT graduates, Terrafugia is currently developing two interesting flying car projects. The first is called the Transition which, they believe, will be the world's first practical flying car.

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The other, sexier, project is the TF-X. It is this model that they intend to scale to mass production to revolutionize personal transportation forever.

The TF-X is being built from the ground up, if you'll excuse the pun, as an all-electric, vertical takeoff and landing, a computer-controlled flying car.

Not only that but its sleek lines will make it a rival for a high-end sports car of today. This is one to really keep an eye out for over the next few years.

2. Joby Aviation's Air Taxi Joby Aviation had been working on a personal aerial craft for several years before receiving an enormous cash injection from Toyota and Intel. The conditions of the investment were to provide a practical all-electric air taxi of the future.

This air taxi is interesting, compared to others on the list, as it is being designed with a seating capacity of up to 5. It will be, by virtue, a lot bigger and heavier than its rivals.Prototype plans reveal that it will be a VTOL but more resembles a traditional airplane but with multiple propellers. This is another interesting one to keep an eye on.

3. DeLorean DR-7 flying car projects delorean

The company behind one of the most famous cars in the cinema is currently developing a flying car. This company is DeLorean and this could possibly be the only project that is stepping back in time with its flying car project. DeLorean Aerospace currently has Paul DeLorean at the helm who is the nephew of John DeLorean. John was the man principally responsible for the iconic DeLorean gull-wing car that became so famous in the Back to the Future films as Dr. Brown's time travel device.The DeLorean DR-7 features electric propulsion and is expected to be fully autonomous, meaning you won't need a pilot license to fly it. The company is expecting to build a full-scale prototype at some point this year. 4. PAL-V Libertyflying car projects PALV5

PAL-V, a Dutch Aerospace company, is nearing completion of their flying car project - the Liberty. They are so close, in fact, that they intend to take pre-orders for its as early as 2019.

If true, this will make it one of, if not the, first commercially available flying car. According to their CEO, Robert Dingemanse, all they need now as the final necessary certifications to make their Liberty market-ready.

The Liberty runs on two engines each specially designed for use on the road or in the air. It has been clocked at a top land speed of 160 km per hour and can reach 180 km per hour in the air.

If, or perhaps when, it goes on the market in 2019 it is earmarked for a price tag of around $400,000 per unit.

5. UBERAIR VTOL taxi Uber are currently developing their own ambitious flying car project or VTOL taxis. The program is called "UBERAIR" and is planned to be introduced in Dallas and Los Angeles first.

The project has been in development since 2016 and Uber hopes to get it off the ground very soon. Little is really known about the project beyond that but they have teamed up with five different partners, including Boeing, to make it a reality.

Their choice of initial cities does highlight some inherent issues with VTOL craft. Namely, VTOL's don't function very well in harsh environments and are best suited to areas with generally mild weather and low rain for safety reasons. Despite this, they plan to begin rolling out the service as early as 2020 in LA.

6. Airbus Vahana flying car projects Vahana

Airbus, not to the outdone by the apparent 'gold rush' to bring flying cars to the market, have been developing one of their own. It's called the Vahana and it is planned to be another all-electric VTOL that will be self-piloted.The idea is to save money on hiring trained and experienced pilots to actually fly the thing once released. Since autopilot software is pretty mature at this point, it shouldn't be out of the scope of possibility to do this, especially for an accomplished organization with the size of Airbus.

This will also have other benefits for things like maintenance whereby the craft can automatically fly themselves to for maintenance and upgrades when required. Progress appears to be going smoothly with it completing its first successful test-fight earlier this year. This was accomplished completely autonomously and Airbus is planning many further tests for things like basic maneuvering in the future.