The flying car has long been part of the collective imagination: from Back to the future has Star Trek Passing by Harry Potter, Blade Runner And The fifth Element, all these films made us dream by showing absolutely incredible cars, with which it was possible to move through the air. A society in which we all travel aboard these flying machines has been dreamed of for several decades now. In 1917, a man named Glenn Curtis first materialized this idea with his Autoplane, a flying car which, although it ultimately performed what amounted to large jumps rather than a long full flight, still had the merit of representing for the first time what these cars of tomorrow could look like.
A flying car “like in the movies”?
This year, it was finally a Californian company, called Alef Aeronautics, which presented its version of the flying car. This could then become the first successful flying car model, since the company has already announced that the first prototypes will be delivered to customers at the end of 2025. However, if the first images of this car are enticing and seem to show a car truly moving in the air, the president of the Alef Aeronautics company, Jim Dukhovny, expresses certain reservations about a truly long flight. “The driver will use the vehicle like a car, and will leap over obstacles when necessary,” he explains. This exceptional car should therefore not meet all of our wildest expectations, but would still be a real first step towards the construction of machines of this type.
This Model A is a flying electric car, capable of carrying one or two people, and almost resembling a drone, thanks to its propellers. It would have a range of 320 kilometers on the road, while it should be able to fly for 177 kilometers. This innovative technology, however, comes at a price, since the Model A costs no less than $300,000, or roughly the same amount in euros, taxes included. Not everyone will therefore be able to immediately experience this unique transport experience.
First public flight demonstrations coming soon
For the moment, no video revealing the machine in flight has been presented, even though the company claims to have been testing the capabilities of its product since 2019. However, this does not prevent the company from obtaining approval from authorities, since it recently received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is none other than the government agency responsible for regulations and controls concerning civil aviation in the United States. Thanks to this precious authorization, the Model A can now legally fly in dedicated airspace, which represents a giant step in the history of flying cars since it is the first time that this right has been granted to a car fully electric steering wheel. This also confirms that the first flights can indeed take place in 2025 and that the first public flight demonstrations will be held soon. More than 440 people have already booked to have the chance to live this unique experience.
Even if the time when the whole of society will move in the air still seems far away, the imminent arrival of this flying car, just like the recent Air Scooter, presented at Vivatech and which should see the light of day in 2024, therefore leaves presage an ever more high-tech and innovative future. However, many questions remain unanswered regarding this machine, since its specific technical capabilities are still unknown (the president of the company Mr. Dukhovny, however, suggested that the car could not, for its first versions, reach high speeds), and that the regulation of these cars which could soon crisscross the sky is still too vague. Indeed, this car is currently designed to take off in an urban environment (for example when the streets of a city are congested, to avoid slowing down), the question of air traffic therefore remains unresolved.
