Flying Cars Inch Closer to a Realistic Reality

The future of motor vehicles could be more airborne than you might think after a successful trial of a flying car took place.

The 35-minute flight saw the hybrid car-aircraft, called AirCar, fly between two Slovakian international airports – Nitra and Bratislava – with a cruising height of 8,200 ft.

Taking two minutes and 15 seconds to transform from car into aircraft, the invention can reach 170km/h in the air and runs on regular petrol-pump fuel.

Dr Stephen Wright, senior research fellow in avionics and aircraft, told the BBC that this prototype is “the lovechild of a Bugatti Veyron and a Cesna 172.”

He said; “I have to admit that this looks really cool – but I’ve got a hundred questions about certification.

“Anyone can make an aeroplane but the trick is making one that flies and flies and flies for the thick end of a million hours, with a person on board, without having an incident.

“I can’t wait to see the piece of paper that says this is safe to fly and safe to sell.”

Chief Executive of the European operations of Hyundai, Michael Cole, believes airborne vehicles have a big role to play in the future of the motor industry.

He told the Guardian; “We believe it really is part of the future. We think that by the latter part of this decade certainly, urban air mobility will offer great opportunity to free up congestion in cities, to help with emissions, whether that’s intra-city mobility in the air or whether it’s even between cities.”

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