For nearly two decades, Shanghai's spindly skyline has inspired comparisons to the dystopian Los Angeles of Ridley Scott's futurist-noir film "Blade Runner." There's wild architecture, giant video billboards and horizon-obscuring smog. The only things missing are the flying cars zipping between buildings.
That may soon change. This week, China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. acquired Terrafugia Inc., a Boston-based company that plans to start selling flying cars by 2019. It's the most prominent Chinese investment yet in an industry that's attracting the talent and capital of some of the world's most prominent entrepreneurs and investors. And it marks an important advance for a technology that could reshape the 21st-century city.
