For Dr. Heinrich H. Bülthoff — one of the leading researchers on the’MyCopter’ project — it’s a serious question. Making an idiot-proof flying car that anyone can pilot has involved years of painstaking research and may be the secret to the long-held dream of firing up the rotors, levitating and simply flying out of the bumper-to-bumper grind.

Now the European Union wants to make the dream a reality, researching the feasibility of small commuter air vehicles to ease the world’s traffic congestion.