Britain’s flying car Vertical Aerospace

The first test flight was in September last year, and plenty have followed since, with the quadcopter-style eVTOL wobbling into the air over the tarmac at Cotswold Airport. This is Vertical Aerospace, and it’s perhaps the UK’s best shot at a flying car. While the UK has solid heritage in the aerospace industry, this is a startup few will have heard of. However, the CEO and founder Stephen Fitzpatrick will be familiar to Formula 1 fans – he was the owner of Manor Racing and has brought his experience with superfast cars to aircraft.

Vertical Aerospace’s eVTOL is entirely electric. It lifts out of the air using thrust created by four rotors, before tilting slightly for forward travel. The aim isn’t to use it for intra-city transport, such as letting commuters get to work faster, but intercity travel, replacing very short-haul flights and some train travel. It’s already reached top speeds of 80km/h at distances up to 150km; the aim is to double that, which would bring the eVTOL into the range of most short-haul flights, a huge market.

So far, the plan is to have pilots fly the eVTOL, but in the longer term – perhaps decades – automation could step in. If and when that happens, the vehicle could become useful for in-city taxi services, the company believes.

That’s looking far ahead. In the meantime, challenges remain, including tech concerns such as batteries, which not only need more capacity but give off too much heat, and getting regulatory approval. But if Fitzpatrick has his way, Vertical Aerospace could well be the first British flying car.