Manual? No.
He said that early adoptors would not accept full automation. I submit that society and the government would not accept anything less. Can you imagine what happens when you have people with minimal training in flying vehicles? If you think drunk drivers are a problem now, imagine them coming through your ceiling with all the kinetic energy of a quarter-ton chunk of metal dropping from a hundred meters up. It'd be a terrorists dream weapon, able to fly over any traffic barrier. Not to mention all the typically idiotic people who would find great sport in dropping things on people out the windows. Sooner or later someone trying to get ahead in the school run is going to come crashing into a busy playground, and the societal outrage will be so great the government will have no choice but to ban non-automated aircraft for low-training drivers. Even if someone solves the problem of fuel efficiency, autopilot design, noise and all the other engineering concerns, the future wouldn't be flying cars: It'd be flying taxis. Get in, enter your destination on the control panel, and get some work done or watch TV while it flies you there and lands on a designated and approved landing pad.