Autonomous vehicles haven't even taken over the roads yet, but now a Slovakia-based startup just launched the final, commercial design of their flying car. It's already available for a hefty preorder price tag of between $1.3 and $1.6 million.
True Flying Car
Nowadays having a hybrid vehicle has a different meaning, but AeroMobil's flying car offers the true hybrid experience as it performs both as a car and an airplane, quite unlike other companies that are dabbling on the flying car industry by developing Vertical Take-Off Landing (VTOL) aircrafts.
VTOLs cannot typically function as road vehicles, but AeroMobil provides the option of going by land or by air. By land, it can go for up to 100 miles per hour, and as fast as 223 miles per hour in the air.
What's more, the car is powered by a hybrid electric system that also powers the vehicle in the air. If that still isn't impressive, the company claims that AeroMobil can fully transform from car to flight mode in less than three minutes.
AeroMobil was launched at the supercar show Top Marques Monaco on Thursday, along with the announcement that they will only be producing 500 units of the vehicle which are expected to be delivered by the year 2020.
For now, AeroMobil is only certified to operate in Europe, but the company is planning for a U.S. release. After the United States, China is the company's next target.
In the UK, owners of the vehicle will need a pilot's license to operate on aircraft mode, and would need access to a runway.
The company takes pride in their vehicle's capability to turn heads both on land and on air, and in its ability to considerably cut travel time compared to traditional airline or helicopter travel.
The idea of a true flying car is certainly something that many are welcoming, though it will likely still take a considerable amount of time before its integration to the roads especially since hybrid and autonomous vehicles are only just starting to make their mark in the automotive market.
Although the flying car is still a little difficult to reach for most travelers and car enthusiasts, it sure looks like the automotive industry is looking at yet another market to reach.
