Terrafugia flying car gets airbags

A new design of the Terrafugia Transition 'roadable aircraft' (that's 'flying car' to you and me) was unveiled together at the AirVenture show at OshKosh. The new car has gained 50kg in weight to accommodate road safety features including a safety cage, crumple zone and airbags.

If you stack the 30mpg vehicle into another car on the road, you'll now have a much better chance of walking away from the wreckage. Strangely enough, the Transition has always been one of the safest aircraft in the skies, boasting a whole-plane parachute in the very unlikely event of the 100hp rear propeller malfunctioning.

Although the Transition has already had several successful test flights, the new version gets an optimised airfoil. Activate the electro-mechanical folding wings and a rear-wheel drive engine with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and tuned independent suspension offers "responsive" road handling. Well, as responsive as you'd expect from something with the look of a semi-dismantled milk float and a top speed of a frankly worrying 65mph.

There have been changes inside, too. You still get that disconcerting combination of a steering wheel, accelerator, brake, joystick and flap controls, but now there's a touchscreen display that offers different data depending on whether you're in flight or drive modes.

Terrafugia is accepting $10,000 (£6,500) down payments to reserve a Transition for its expected 2011 delivery.