Flying Car Company Founder Explains How Airborne Automobile Works

Jim Dukhovny makes his company's flying car sound really simple, laying out exactly how it goes full "Back to the Future" mode during an interview on "TMZ Live" ... but, interested parties are going to have to throw down serious cash to get one.

The founder of Alef Aeronautics -- a tech company making a flying car -- stopped by the show to talk about the startup's new invention ... and, he says the car has a pretty simple design despite doing something groundbreaking.

Dukhovny says all ya gotta do is take the engine out of the hood and put four smaller ones by the wheels ... and, then put in a bunch of fancy tech like a motor, propellers, speed controller, and a whole lot more.

From there, it's about putting the right kind of mesh on the vehicle to allow the wind to pass through ... before adding a special material of the side to basically make wings -- all contributing to getting those wheels up in the air.

Jim says the car has three modes ... regular car, hovercraft mode -- where the car goes into the air but doesn't go much further -- and, it has the biplane mode where it flies forward.

As for brass tacks ... it sounds like this car won't be in many people's price ranges -- but, it could be in the not so distant future. Watch the clip until the end to hear all about how much it's gonna set people back.