A pedant writes, if only to agree with Cochise and INT21 on this point:
From a UK perspective it's a bit worse than that: the minimum for the European fixed-wing Private Pilot's Licence ( EASA PPL(A) ) is technically 45 hrs as you also need 5 hours solo cross-country flying and anyway hardly anyone passes in 45 - 55 being closer to the average and in fact many people take much, much longer - especially those who can't afford very frequent lessons and therefore tend to learn more slowly ... and so the costs mount up. You can also expect to spend £250 or so on books and materials. Radio and skills tests will cost another £300 or thereabouts, then there are nine written exams at roughly £30 each - and then you'll need to get a medical certificate...
In other words a student pilot won't see any change out of ten grand (and the rest).
However there's also the somewhat more restricted LAPL (Light Aircraft Pilot's Licence) which is slightly cheaper and requires only 30 hours in the air, but even this ain't a cheap option. Also I've no idea how the 'flying car' might fit into current (or future) licensing and safety regulations and I don't think the current syllabus even touches on the subject of electric powerplants; all the technical 'systems' stuff being about cylinders, carburettors and magnetos. A helicopter licence probably wouldn't be much help with the various machines that derive their lifting power from rotors as these would necessarily have different, simpler controls compared to a conventional chopper. In any case, learning about aerodynamics, air law, the intricacies of the various classes of controlled airspace, meteorology and so on is a serious and fairly academic commitment and therefore I've got to say the idea seems unlikely to (ho, ho) 'take off'... which would probably be for the best.
Putting aside the issue of training, there is, I suppose, the possibility of most airborne taxi-type vehicles being self-flying, but as drones (or some of the people playing with them) can be a menace and the autonomous car hasn't proved as safe as expected either these still seem some way off being certified as airworthy. An all-party parliamentary enquiry into the state of General Aviation in the UK and how to manage its future kicked off in December as the best (read: more revenue generating) way of dealing with existing private air traffic is getting various bodies' knickers in a twist even without chucking skybound mopeds into the equation.
There's an old meme, if you like, in GA: the "£100 Bacon Sandwich" - that is once you've got your expensive licence you can pick a nice day to fly to another airfield, have a cuppa and a sarnie and come home - which will be very pleasant, but you'll be a ton or so lighter in the wallet.
Of course an electric thing with a bunch of rotors on it should be cheaper to run and maintain, if not necessarily to buy, but the whole thing seems like a really bad idea to me.
All good points, and quite a few people share your cynicism: it seems some company sends out a press release about their prototype - or 3D model of prototype (flight testing to start soon, on sale next spring) every month or so, and yet...
A slightly sarcastic piece in the February issue of Pilot magazine addressed the latest VTOL example of these, under development by a German start up called JETCopter, under the headline "Believe it if you will department". As aviation journalists they've heard it all before!
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I was thinking more of monorails within such a new city - perhaps a sort of ringway, as I'd imagine there'd be less of a distinction between residential / suburban areas and central business district.
