Audi, Voom, a subsidiary of Airbus, and Italdesign recently teamed up to develop a flying taxi.
The three companies claim to have successfully tested a 1:4-scale model of the vehicle, dubbed Pop.UpNext, which uses a quadcopter to carry a small two-passenger electric vehicle through the air.
The partners are also trying to figure out the logistics of an on-demand flying taxi service, Audi said in a press release.
To see how customers might actually use a flying-taxi service, Audi and Airbus subsidiary Voom are conducting tests with helicopter services in Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
Industry watchers and proponents see flying cars becoming part of the global transportation network and generating as much as $5 billion a year in service revenue, reported other media outlets.
Other firms experimenting with this concept include aerospace giants such as Boeing and Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc. And Silicon Valley startups such as Uber, which is aiming to begin service in several cities by 2023, with early demonstrations set for 2020, and Google-backed startup Opener, a first air/land craft, which is called BackFly, which is capable of vertical takeoffs and landing. Recently, Air taxi startup Kitty Hawk received FAA approval to test its prototype.
Other auto giants in the space include Toyota, Volkswagen and Daimler.