That is the Flying car ready for takeoff?
The picture has changed, however, with the development of lighter and stronger construction materials and more efficient engines. Terrafugia is aiming to build a vehicle that will fly at 120 miles per hour and get 30 miles a gallon in the air. (It will also get 40 miles per gallon on the freeway and 30 in the city).

The Transition vehicle will carry a payload of only 430 pounds, far less than cars, but how many cars can take flight after 1,500 feet of takeoff space?

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Demand also has finally begun to emerge. Today's clogged freeway traffic and dispersed suburban living patterns have created an audience for these types of vehicles. Regional airports are also somewhat plentiful and underutilized. In addition, Federal Aviation Administration regulations passed in 2004 have made it easier to get a sport pilot's license.

"Since 9/11, for the first time, average door-to-door travel speed has really dropped substantially due to a combination of increased security measures at airports and more road traffic," Dietrich said in a statement accepting the Lemelson prize.

The Lemelson foundation, named after controversial inventor and patent litigant Jerome Lemelson, gives an annual student award, as well as lifetime awards, to inventors. Past winners of the student prize included James McLurkin for his work on swarming robots.
Lifetime achievement winners included Segway inventor Dean Kamen.

The foundation cited Dietrich, one of the star students in the department, for other accomplishments. Dietrich also holds a patent for the Centrifugal Direct Injection Engine, a low-cost, high-performance rocket propulsion engine.
For his doctoral work, he is researching how a fusion reactor could be used to power a spacecraft.