There, he hops inside his autonomous Uber aircraft and whizzes across town to the rooftop of his office building. This vision of urban, aerial transport is probably still many years in the future, but I’m optimistic we could start seeing flying car prototypes this year. Uber started the year by slashing its fares to the bone in a concerted effort to kill off competitors like Lyft, and ended the year in a quixotic battle with the California DMV over its refusal to obtain a $150 permit for its fleet of self-driving cars.