Who didn’t dream, when they were a child, of flying over the highways in a flying car, just like what was presented to us in cartoons?
We’re not there yet, but almost. This flying car could indeed leave the world of fiction shortly, cross over to reality and appear in our settings during the year 2025.
At least that’s what the Californian company Alef Aeronautics, specializing in automobiles and aeronautics, is hoping for, which is coming to us with this new product. A completely realistic wish, since the company recently obtained special airworthiness certification from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to be able to carry out tests.
This flying vehicle is directly inspired by a cinema classic, the feature film Back to the Future. Movie buffs will remember that the DeLorean car was driven by the famous character Marty McFly, played by the no less famous actor Michael J. Fox.
We are therefore talking here about the first fully electric vehicle which will be able to circulate on the roads and in the air, a welcome innovation in the context of global warming which is raging, since it produces no emissions and it allows the use of a means of transport that is both ecological and fast. A vehicle which will also allow individuals and businesses to save many hours of travel each week on the roads.
The American company named this first flying vehicle the Model A. At first glance, it was designed to travel on the roads and to be ready to fly between sky and earth over only short distances, as well as to avoid obstacles. He can also park in the usual parking lots.
To imagine it properly, know that this machine can accommodate one or two people and that it can take off both horizontally and vertically, a bit like a drone, thanks to four propellers found on each side of the vehicle. The vertical mode therefore eliminates the need for an airport or heliport runway. Practical.
That said, a bit like the autonomous car, you will have to be patient a little longer before using it happily. Although the technology already exists, there are still some hurdles to overcome before these devices can be borrowed, particularly on the regulatory side.
The company nevertheless plans to deliver its first vehicles as early as 2025, 10 years after four men (President Jim Dukhovny and his friends Constantine Kisly, Pavel Markin and Oleg Petrov) set out to create this first real flying vehicle.
The company claims that the inspiration to develop its Model A came in 2015. However, in the second film of the Back to the Future trilogy, it is precisely in the year 2015 that Marty McFly goes with his vehicle to jumping forward 30 years in time.
For the record, it is said within this company that the four friends met in a café and drew the first sketch on a simple napkin. A year later, the design had become a reality and the first prototype was built, followed in 2018 by the first prototype that could take off, like Marty McFly.
The question arises, since with the technology developed, we expect the vehicle to be able to travel on the road and, if necessary, take off vertically to fly over traffic. But we’re not there yet. To date, the vehicle is still in the development and testing stage, which has been taking place since 2019, the company said in a press release.
That said, when it is finally accessible to all, the problem of land traffic could indeed be solved, although air traffic could then become an issue…
For the moment, the futuristic aspect of this flying car may seduce and inspire dreams, but it is obvious that no matter how the vehicles of tomorrow move, the future of traffic will necessarily have to be rethought.
