The concept of flying cars is no more science fiction, many companies have built and successfully tested their flying car prototypes, some have even put them on sale. However, the one thing that has had engineers scratching their heads is vertical take off. A flying car that needs a runway to take off makes lesser sense than one that is capable of vertical take off. A German company Lilium has attended to this concern, and has built a flying car that can take off vertically and hover like a drone. The two-seat prototype performed maneuvers like mid-air transition from hover mode to wing-borne flight like a conventional aircraft during the test flight, Munich based Lilium said.
The flying car has a range of 304 km and cruising speed of about 299 kmph, and is the only electric aircraft capable of both vertical take-off and jet-powered flight, the company said while adding that the power consumption of the jet used in the flying car is comparable to an electric car, and emissions are zero. Passengers would be able to avail its service at prices like a regular taxi, but at speeds fives times faster.
Lilium faces competition from giants like Airbus, that aims to test a prototype self-piloted, single-seat ‘flying car’ later in 2017.
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Just recently, Slovakian firm AeroMobil unveiled its two-seater flying car at the Top Marques car show in Monaco on 20th April, 2017. The company claims the flying car meets the regulatory requirements for planes and cars. Google, Tesla and Uber have also reportedly shown interest in the new technology.
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Flying cars, however, still face a lot many hurdles in terms of government regulations and the fact that it will take a while for people to be able to trust this tech. These companies are still in the process of convincing the governments and consumers on safety concerns.
