If you have been patiently waiting for that future of transportation promised by "The Jetsons" more than 50 years ago, one in which we would all fly around our cities' skies without so much as a pilot, Airbus has some good news.

The aerospace giant says on its website that it's designing a self-piloting flying taxi that passengers will be able summon on their smartphone. Airbus said it expects to begin testing its first prototype vehicle by the end of 2017.

"Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most of the way there," Rodin Lyasoff, the Airbus executive in charge of the project, said in an article titled "Future of urban mobility: My kind of flyover."