Volkswagen (OTC:VLKAF) (OTC:VWAGY) is working on pushing into one of the future's most promising markets — that of flying vehicles. As a matter of fact, the company has announced the onset of a feasibility study, aimed at creating authentic flying cars. “Beyond autonomous driving, the concept of vertical mobility could be the next step to take our mobility approach into the future, especially in the technically affine Chinese market,” Volkswagen CEO Stephan Wöllenstein explained during a LinkedIn Live broadcast, later reported by Reuters. “Therefore, we are investigating potential concepts and partners in a feasibility study to identify the possibility to industrialize this approach”, he added. The intention, as underlined by Wöllenstein, is to develop a drone capable of carving out a share in an automotive market that is taking place up in the air and not down on the streets.

Competition Is Already On: Volkswagen's announcement comes at a time of turmoil for the flying car industry, since other multinational corporations - General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), Hyundai Motors Company (OTC:HYMTF), Airbus (OTC:EADSF), as well as some American companies, such as Joby Aviation, and the German firms Lilium and Volocopter, whose investors include Daimler AG (OTC:DDAIF) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), are bustling to win the first place in the race for the skies. The competition has been also joined by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU), for which Airspeeder is developing a vertical take-off vehicle, while KeinVision is designing a road-to-sky car capable of taking off simply by pushing a button. In short, the game of flying cars has just begun.

This article originally appeared on Financialounge.com and was translated from Italian to English. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited. For news coverage in Italian or Spanish, check out Benzinga Italia and Benzinga España.