It's the year 2019 and there's still no hover board technology… although Lexus had a red-hot go in 2015.
But how about flying cars?
The Australian government agency responsible for regulating aviation safety is already discussing short-trip, low-altitude air taxis – electrically-powered machines – with Uber, which could launch its Uber Air service Down Under by 2023 with demonstration flights by 2020.
A spokesperson for CASA, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, said that Uber has already approached the organisation to work through the legal issues, of which there appear to be few.
CASA's Peter Gibson told the ABC he has seen proposals that would fast-track passengers between the airport and city centres, via low-flying VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircraft such as large drones or small helicopters, reducing travel times from two hours to 20 minutes.
"It's a bit like you can just go and charter a helicopter at Brisbane to go to the Sunshine Coast," Gibson told the ABC.
"That's all they're doing, but they're doing it in an electric aircraft controlled by a traffic management system and they're doing it a price point cheaper than you could hire a helicopter."
How cheap? It's not yet clear what a 30km flight will cost but Uber says there's a demand for the service.
The flying car has been a symbol of the future, with movies like Blade Runner whetting the appetite of futurists everywhere. But as space on freeways and arterial roads around major cities and suburbs becomes scarce and new roads fail to match the population increase, the fantasy could soon become reality.
Former Tesla boss Elon Musk is attempting to drill tunnels underground to alleviate traffic congestion in Los Angeles but air taxis appear to be closer to commercialisation.
The CASA official told the ABC that Uber Air was not the sole 'disruptor' seeking to set up innovative aviation operations in Australia. Google's parent company Alphabet is set to trial drone-based delivery technology in Canberra ahead of its US rollout, in large part because Aussie regulations are less obstructive than many other countries'.
The idea of a flying car or air taxi is not new.
Toyota's flying taxi is being readied for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics while aviation giant Airbus, Chinese car-maker Geely and even Mercedes and Audi are actively working on flying vehicle projects.
It's not yet clear what aircraft Uber Air plans to use but the service is scheduled to begin in three major cities from 2023, with Dallas and Los Angeles already confirmed. There is a shortlist of five other countries vying to be the third market, including Brazil, France, Japan, India and Australia.
In its proposal to CASA, Uber Air stated that all aircraft would be overseen by humans, not AI, so that if something went awry the pilot could step in. Ultimately, the goal is for self-flying vehicles to reduce the cost of flights.
If the Australian bid is successful, Uber Air says it expects to develop about 25 'Skyports' dotted around Melbourne or Sydney in a bid to offer customers a way out of traffic gridlock. Many of these Skyports could end up being converted rooftop car parks.
The service would operate almost identically to the ground-based Uber system, using an app to hail a ride after selecting a destination.
Gibson stated that while the deal is far from sealed, Australia was in a strong position to join LA and Texas as the inaugural Uber Air cities.
"Uber is deadly serious about this," he said, with an official announcement expected very soon.
"There are companies, and I'm talking about big multinational companies, investing big dollars.
"We are talking about hundreds of millions, if not billions [of dollars]."