[DakotaGator]

While the vision of whisking passengers between rooftops in aircraft capable of vertical takeoff has largely solidified in the general shape of multiple rotors...

Is this a passenger transport or a personal transport vehicle?

If it's a passenger transport, I seem to recall an existing craft called a helicopter.

If it's a personal transport, this is just the most recent flavor of the decade.

I have lived with 6 decades of flavors/promises. Hasn't happened. The biggest problem isn't the equipment. It's the nut behind the wheel.

As seen all the time on our roads and highways, most people can barely operate an automobile in 2 dimensions. Vanishingly few are capable of operating a craft in 3 dimensions, let alone the necessary 4th dimension of time.

The human problem is the major problem to be solved to make personal aircraft viable. The rest has been in our grasp for some time.

[amorphous]

The answer to the problem between the seat and steering wheel is a computer. Of course they also fail from time to time as the numerous fatalities in the news, involving autonomous vehicles, attest.

[Rockingham]

The solution will be an autopilot and a robot copilot — who will slap the hand of any human who reaches for the controls.

[Richard Kimball]

It's an article from AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) so it's a special interest article for people who are already flying or are looking at getting a pilot's license. This is about a different fueling system for airplanes.

Completely agree that the reason we don't have flying cars is because most people aren't capable of flying.

Two Aggies are flying in an airplane and the engine dies.
One of them says, "Oh no! We're out of gas!"
How high up are we?
10,000 feet!
Nobody's ever gonna find us up here!

Aside from most people not being able to fly, the problem of not maintaining vehicles would be a disaster.