What's happening?

It has been a staple of sci-fi films for decades, but now the flying car is finally here. This week, Lilium, a German start-up unveiled its five-seater flying taxi. The company says its Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft could be ferrying people around cities as soon as 2025.

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The latest model completed a successful test flight earlier this month.

On a small airbase in Germany, the aircraft took off, hovered a few feet from the ground, and landed. It cannot yet fly horizontallyForward or backwards., but the company says smaller models have done so. While the taxi isn't zooming through the sky just yet, Lilium's founders say the flight was a huge step for flying-car technology.

The vehicle, which will travel at speeds of up to 185 miles per hour, is powered by 36 electric motors. Experts say it could cut pollution in cities, and end traffic jams.

Other tech companies are racing to get there first. Airbus, UberA popular taxi app. and Kitty Hawk (founded by Google's Larry Page) are testing their own flying taxis.

Some say

Don't be so sure. Inventors have been trying to make flying cars for 50 years and we're hardly any nearer. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, says that loud engines, heavy batteries, the risk of cars out of the sky, and the challenges of 3D traffic mean that flying cars are simply too expensive, complicated and dangerous to work.

Others think

It's only a matter of time. At least 16 companies, with some of the world's brightest minds, are working on flying taxis at this very moment. Airbus has held more than 50 test flights, and Morgan StanleyAn investment bank. says that the flying-taxi industry will be worth $1.5 trillionOne thousand times bigger than a billion. by 2040. We'll be hailing flying taxis sooner than you think.