Fly America's Skies In Your New Car (Infographic)

The Terafugia Transition, a small aircraft that is street-legal for road driving, was featured at the New York International Auto Show. (Image credit: Ross Toro, LiveScience Contributor)

Are we there yet? Turns out, we may be closer than ever to hovering over traffic gridlock and landing on roads with a convertible flying car.

Still a prototype, a street-legal airplane called "Transition" made its successful first flight at Plattsburgh International Airport in Plattsburgh, NY, on March 23. The vehicle created by aviation company Terrafugia, can fold its wings to drive between small airports. The flighty car is currently on display at the New York International Auto Show, running from April 6-15 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

The vehicle is a logical step toward a self-flying car, scientists say. In fact, today's big commercial jets can already fly and land themselves without much help from human pilots. Such autopilot technology could prove necessary for any futuristic vision of flying cars that won't give air-traffic controllers nightmares.

"Your co-pilot would be the systems of the airplane itself to the point where it won't let you fly into bad weather — it will take over," trained flight instructor Cliff Allen, vice president of sales at Terrafugia, told InnovationNewsDaily. "It will be HAL saying "You're jeopardizing the mission at this point," and will land at the nearest airport."