It will enable commuters to glide above crowded roadways. Nearly a dozen companies around the globe, including some with deep pockets such as European aircraft maker Airbus, are competing to be the first to develop a new kind of aircraft. Inventors and entrepreneurs have long tried and failed to make the dream a reality. The flying car, delivering the ultimate in personal mobility convenience.Even before the cartoon character George Jetson entranced kids with his flying car, people dreamed of soaring above traffic congestion. "A flying car is something which you own, which you can take from any door to another with more fun, functionality and efficiency. "People think eVTOLs compete with flying cars, but they really don't," he said. It's far different, he scoffed, from the likes of air taxis and electric takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which require new regulatory handbooks, perhaps new airspace management rules and new vertiports for urban operations.ĭingemanse also underlined a more fundamental difference: While there can be some similarities among all three, he says only flying cars will provide true door-to-door service, thus enabling truly seamless transportation.Īir taxis and eVTOLs are largely expected to drop off and pick up passengers at hubs. The Liberty, he said, was designed to work without the need for vehicle technology advances, within existing government regulations and with no further needed infrastructure. He's perplexed by some of the skepticism surrounding flying cars. PAL-V's supply chain includes purchasing body composite parts from a Mitsubishi division in Germany that provides similar parts to Porsche and Lamborghini.
Dingemanse says there's more testing and regulatory work ahead, but the company is on track to deliver the Liberty to customers in late 2022. Kevin Colburn, general manager of Terrafugia, says the company no longer plans to pursue launching the flying car in the U.S., and plans for China are uncertain.įor PAL-V, founded in 2008, there's a clear runway. operations and shifted development to China just weeks after securing the Transition's airworthiness certificate. In a move that reflects perhaps both the promise and uncertainty involved, Geely shuttered Terrafugia's U.S. It's going to take years and years and years. "It's going to be such an uphill battle to get regulators on board. "There's a whole other layer of complexity in having a vehicle that's crashworthy on roads and light enough to take off from a road," he said. When AeroMobil unveiled its flying car in 2017, it estimated models would cost $1.3 million to $1.6 million each.Īsad Hussain, senior analyst at Pitchbook, says despite their technical feasibility, flying cars remain a somewhat fanciful pursuit. Aska says its first craft will cost $789,000. Currently, the PAL-V is slated to retail for $600,000. A double dose of regulations - aviation and automotive - and a niche market are sticking points. Other startups undertaking flying-car development include Slovakia-based AeroMobil and California's NFT Inc., which makes the Aska Drive & Fly.įlying-car companies may have captured interest, but so far they have not seen the same level of enthusiasm from Wall Street or venture capitalists as other startups in the aviation realm. Federal Aviation Administration in January. The Terrafugia Transition, a flying car made by a Zhejiang Geely Holding Group subsidiary, received its Special Light-Sport Aircraft airworthiness certificate from the U.S. Dingemanse aims to sell 90 of the aircraft.Ĭompetitors may be in pursuit. Last fall, the company received a road-ready thumbs-up from Europe's ground-based regulators. In February, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency granted a first-of-its-kind certification to PAL-V's Liberty, a two-seat gyroplane that met approximately 1,500 requirements to earn its new status after more than a decade of development. But they've stalled in transforming their creations from one-off science projects into mature commercial products.Ī combination of new lightweight materials and regulatory tailwinds now allow for that possibility. Inventors and tinkerers have produced concepts that achieved liftoff and trundled along roads for a while. You just drive it to your destination."įlying cars have stretched the imagination for the better part of a century. This way, you take it from your garage, fly somewhere and after landing you don't leave your plane or store it. "General aviation is cumbersome, because once you land, you're stuck at an airport. "A plane that you can take on the road changes everything," said Robert Dingemanse, co-founder and CEO of Dutch flying-car company PAL-V.
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