Fed up of being stuck in traffic jams? Soon you could fly right over them in a £235,000 electric car.
Alef Aeronautics’ futuristic vehicle can be driven around like a normal car on the streets.
However, it is also packed with propellors in the bonnet and boot that allow it to take off at any time to skip the queue.
This week, the company successfully tested the flying car in a city environment for the first time.
Incredible footage shows the car driving forwards a few metres, before taking off vertically.
It then glides through the air over the car in front of it, before landing on the ground and driving off.
‘This drive and flight test represents an important proof of technology in a real-world city environment,’ said Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef.
‘We hope it will be a moment similar to the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk video, proving to humanity that new transportation is possible.’
Fed up of being stuck in traffic jams? Soon you could fly right over them in a £235,000 electric car
Alef Aeronautics’ futuristic vehicle can be driven around like a normal car on the streets. However, it is also packed with propellors in the bonnet and boot that allow it to take off at any time to skip the queue
Fed up of being stuck in traffic jams? Soon you could fly right over them in a £235,000 electric car
The test was conducted on an unidentified public street that had been closed off.
According to Alef, the video is the first in history to show a car both driving and vertically taking off.
‘While previous videos exist of cars driving and using a runway to take off, videos of tethered flights, and eVTOL flying taxis taking off, this is the first publicly released video of a car driving and taking off vertically,’ the company said in a statement.
While the test was carried out with a special, ultralight version of the Alef Model Zero, the Model A flying car will eventually be a two-seater with a road range of 200 miles and a flying range of 110 miles.
The carbon-fibre frame – which measures around 17ft long and 7ft wide – is designed to fit in any parking space or garage.
To drive on the road, the car uses four small engines in each of the wheels and will drive similar to a normal electric car.
This leaves space in the front and the back for eight propellors, which spin independently at different speeds to allow it to fly in any direction.
It uses a technology called distributed electric propulsion, with a mesh cover over the rotor blades allowing airflow through the vehicle.
To drive on the road, the car uses four small engines in each of the wheels and will drive similar to a normal electric car
This leaves space in the front and the back for eight propellors, which spin independently at different speeds to allow it to fly in any direction
Its cruise speed in the air is 110mph, while on the road it will be limited to between 25 and 35mph despite being able to go far faster.
This is so the vehicle – which weighs 850lb – can be classed as an ultralight ‘low speed vehicle’, a legal classification reserved for small electric vehicles like golf carts, to pass regulations.
Mr Dukhovny claims the car, which is aimed at the general public, is relatively simple to use and would take just 15 minutes to learn.
The controls while in the air are similar to those used to fly a consumer drone.
The Model A is different to most of the so-called flying cars being designed today because it actually functions as a car, he said, whereas others on the market tend to be eVTOLS, which are essentially electric helicopters that can only fly.
Alef’s founders began working on the concept in 2015 – coincidentally the same date when Marty McFly went Back to the Future in the second instalment of the Hollywood trilogy.
The Model A is currently on pre-order for £235,000 – around the same as the finest Rolls Royce, Bentleys and Aston Martins – but the company is aiming to sell them far cheaper in the future.
Mr Dukhovny said he wanted to bring sci-fi to life and build an ‘affordable’ flying car, with the cost likely to be closer to £25,000 when built at scale.
