Reserve now: Flying cars in 2020
Flying cars soared it over in 2015—at least in the 1989 movie “Back to the Future II,” which featured this most anticipated techno-marvel prediction. They’re the stuff of science fiction, but two flying car prototypes were launched on Thursday on the French Riviera, at an event showcasing “supercars” in Monaco.
MONACO— Flying cars soared it over in 2015—at least in the 1989 movie “Back to the Future II,” which featured this most anticipated techno-marvel prediction.
They might seem like the stuff of science fiction, but two flying car prototypes were launched on Thursday on the French Riviera, at an event showcasing “supercars” in Monaco.
Dutch and Slovak companies unveiled their designs as world premieres in the tiny wellheeled principality, where luxury automakers have gathered until Sunday for the Top Marques showcase event.
Bratislava-based AeroMobil, whose first prototype presented two years ago suffered an accident, is back with a “new generation” of flying vehicle named after the firm which makes it.
“We are taking reservations from today for deliveries expected in 2020, after the process of (regulatory) approvals is completed,” the Slovak firm’s spokesperson Stefan Vadocz told AFP.
The AeroMobil vehicle, six meters long and with a fully deployed span of nine meters, is a normal teardrop-like shaped four-wheeled car which can unfold its wings to transform itself into a plane able to fly two passengers at a cruising speed of 260 kilometers per hour for up to 750 km. It could switch to flight mode in less than three minutes.
AeroMobil, one of several companies developing such flying vehicles, aims to make up to 500 units of its first commercially available edition, priced at 1.2 million to 1.5 million euros ($1.29 million to $1.61 million).
Dutch rival
Its Dutch rival for the futuristic vehicle type, the Pal-V Liberty, is the brainchild of Robert Dingemanse, whose company is based near Breda in the south of the Netherlands.
His crossover car-plane is more compact, at four meters long, and should be deliverable as early as next year, once official approvals are secured. He is already taking orders for a vehicle which will cost between 299,000 and 499,000 euros.
The Dutch flying car is in fact a gyrocopter with three wheels and a retractable rotor. It can carry two people at a cruising speed of 160 km/h for between 400 and 500 km.
It is “one of the safest flying machines on the planet,” able to fly “whatever the weather conditions,” say its designers.
To fly, the car would need an airfield or another approved place to take off, while owners would require driving and pilot licences, Vadocz said.
Before so-called flying cars become mainstream, they must overcome a host of flight safety issues to allay public fears.
Governments are already studying how to regulate drones and driverless cars, while the auto and aviation industries are working on advances in software and city planning to ensure the vehicles are restricted to travel within safe corridors.