Kitty Hawk's vision for the future of cars is electric. Also — its vision involves no wheels, because, well, its own take on the futuristic vehicle can hover over water. As if it spawned right out of a science fiction movie.
Kitty Hawk Flyer: A Working Hovercraft Straight Out Of Science Fiction
Backed by Google's Larry Page, Kitty Hawk just piloted a flying electric vehicle above a lake.
The vehicle itself, which the company refers to as an "all-electric aircraft," looked something George Lucas himself would have thought up and added in the Star Wars films, instead of your everyday road car. It's an open-seated contraption weighing 220 pounds, with eight battery-powered propellers to lift it up at a maximum altitude of 15 feet.
Mainly designed to operate over areas of water, Kitty Hawk's vehicle doesn't require a pilot's license because of how it's categorized with the Federal Aviation Administration. There's also no registration required, although the vehicle itself shouldn't zoom through heavily congested places.
The vehicle needs no runway: it lifts and descends vertically. But more than that, flying and controlling it is easy. That's at least according to Kitty Hawk, claiming that people can learn it "in minutes." In fact, one of the featured test pilots said she has "never piloted a toy helicopter, let alone a real airplane." Yet, the ease was instant.
"I feel like the Flyer and I are one. I nudge the pitch knob forward and rocket across the lake," she said.
Landing it was no chore, too.
"Landing is a breeze. I just gently ease down the throttle and softly drift to touch down on the dock."
The video, which features the real-life Kitty Hawk Flyer levitating above a Northern California lake, was part of Kitty Hawk's commercial test footage of the prototype, and the story's setup sees friends trying to plan a meetup, suggesting that they use the Flyer to do so. Later, it switches to an aerospace engineer operating the Flyer.
Silicon Valley Takes On The Flying Car
Silicon Valley has a knack for disrupting the technological fabric, and lately many of them have been trying to target cars. Autopiloting electric vehicles powered by artificial intelligence, once only seen in fiction, are now in some cities, with a wider penetration only more imminent the longer it stays in traffic.
Flying cars, often seen as one of the chief grand myths of the future, are next: Kitty Hawk says that its Flyer might have a consumer version ready by the end of the year.
Yet it's not clear what the Flyer is for. In innovation, there's always the initial flight of fancy, but for that innovation to be significant, the product itself must be of use. It looks promising right now, and hopefully, the hype surrounding the Flyer will stay afloat long enough for Kitty Hawk to prove its product is sorely needed.
Regardless, the company is offering eager pilots a $100 three-year membership that'll put them in a priority waiting list, give them Kitty Hawk-branded gear, and grant them exclusive access to a flight simulator in addition to company events.
Kitty Hawk hasn't offered a final retail price yet, but members will get a $2,000 discount when the Flyer eventually launches.
Larry Page Bets Big On Flying Cars
Kitty Hawk has Larry Page to thank for this soaring ambition. Page reportedly spent a cool $100 million — perhaps more — to back flying car startups, including Kitty Hawk and Zee.Aero, which is a division of the former.
But Kitty Hawk and Zee.Aero aren't alone in this vision of the future. Among the other flying car hopefuls are Airbus, AeroMobil, and PAL-V, all of which have diverse approaches in making our science fiction dreams a reality.
