The 7 flying cars that will arrive in the next three years

Redacción 23 October 2017 5 min.

The 7 flying cars that will arrive in the next three years

We review the seven flying cars that will reach the market by 2020.

A decade ago, the flying car was little more than a utopia, a vehicle we could only conceive in our best dreams and that we never imagined we would see live and in person. Well, by 2020 as many as seven flying cars will hit the market, and some of them will be available for sale to the public.

The flying car is in vogue, and proof of this is that giants like Uber and Toyota have already presented a prototype of this kind. Currently more than thirty companies are involved in developing the flying car, and the projects of many of them are very advanced, to the point that deliveries of the first car capable of soaring through the skies could begin in 2018. Below we break down the 7 flying cars that will hit the market soon:

Skydrive: the torchbearer at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Japan will host the 2020 Olympic Games, and the Japanese country wants to take the opportunity to show the world that it is at the forefront when it comes to technology and mobility. In principle, the torch bearer for the next Olympic Games will be a flying car called the Skydrive. We are talking about a single-seater model 2.9 metres long, 1.30 metres wide and 1.10 metres high. It would therefore be the smallest flying car in the world, and it has four propellers on its sides that allow it to take off from anywhere. According to the manufacturer, the vehicle could reach around 100 kilometres per hour while flying and around 150 km/h on the ground. The goal is for the project to be ready by 2020. That said, those responsible for this incredible piece of engineering assure that its use will not become widespread until 2050.

UberAir: Dubai and Dallas will receive Uber’s flying car

The famous carsharing company is willing to offer a flying car among its services. UberAir would be offered in the Uber app itself and would be available from 2020 in cities such as Dubai or Dallas.

Uber has allied with several companies to build its flying car, and the one with the best chance of being carried out is that of the Brazilian firm Aurora Science. This prototype would have a capacity of between 4 and 8 passengers and would be based on a military vehicle of the US Army. By 2020, Aurora Science plans to manufacture 50 units of this model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSFVvhQP7ws

Uber’s future vision is for its flying cars to land and take off at specific points it has called Vertiports, where the vehicles will also be able to recharge their electric batteries.

Liberty Pioneer Edition: the flying car whose deliveries will begin next year

PAL-V aims to become the first company to legally sell its flying cars. The Dutch company already accepts reservations for its Liberty Pioneer Edition on its website, and deliveries of it will start as soon as next year.

PAL-V’s flying car has a range of 500 kilometres and to be piloted you need both a car licence and a light aircraft licence. The Dutch company assures that this model complies with all land and air traffic regulations in Europe and the USA. The vehicle serves as both a car and a plane, but it needs about 10 minutes to transition from one to the other. The Pioneer Edition version costs 500,000 euros, but PAL-V also offers a more affordable variant called the Sport that will cost 299,000 euros.

Aeromobil 4.0: you can already reserve it for more than one million euros

Like PAL-V, the Slovak company Aeromobil has opened the order period for its revolutionary flying car, the Aeromobil 4.0. The company plans to start production of this model in the coming months and deliver the first units in 2020. We are talking about a two-seater vehicle that will need a short runway to take off and land. It weighs 700 kilograms and has a range of 700 kilometres in the air and 750 kilometres on land. Cost is one of its biggest drawbacks: between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros.

Airbus’s flying car that works with modules

Airbus, the well-known aerospace company, is also betting on the flying car. The French company’s proposal was created together with a number of partners and has given rise to a subsidiary called Pop.Up, a company that aims to develop a modular vehicle consisting of a central detachable cabin that could be attached either to a flying platform or to a ground platform.

Airbus’s flying car will not be sold to the public. Instead, it will be offered as a rental unit with an app similar to that of carsharing services.

An electric ´megadrone`

A British company called Neva Aerospace is developing a ´megadrone` made up of four electric turbines that would be capable of carrying a single person. Its range limited to 25 kilometres makes it a vehicle whose use is limited to urban transport.