Flying Taxis. Seriously?

"Two words for you: flying taxis. That's right. In the not-so-distant future, you'll open your ride-hailing app and, in addition to ground options like car, SUV, scooter or bicycle, you'll see on-demand air flight."

"At least that's according to the optimists at South by Southwest, the annual tech-music-film convention in Austin, Texas."

"When the flying taxi comes, most of us will be passengers. We might hail it on our smartphones and head to the rooftop, where a ride is waiting at the helipad. It might look like a minivan with wings and four seats; or more like a gigantic drone."

Either way, it won't fly itself anytime soon, experts say. One seat will be reserved for the driver-pilot.

"'If air taxis are going be what everybody wants them to be — thousands at a city, for example — we won't be able to find enough conventional pilots,' said Carey Cannon, chief engineer of technology and innovation at Bell."

"In a crowded pavilion at South By Southwest, Cannon has set up a virtual reality simulation of what it feels like to drive one of these small flying vehicles of the future. I decide to try it out."