Xpeng's Flying Car Took Its First Flight Over Dubai
Flying cars may no longer be a thing confined to science fiction as Xpeng subsidiary AeroHT demonstrates its first public flight in Dubai.
Written by Preston Charles
Reviewed by Serena Aburahma
The cars on the ground are beginning to drive themselves and the driver-required
cars are beginning to fly
; the future of the automobile industry has arrived. Recently, XPeng’s urban air mobility (UAM) company, AeroHT, demonstrated its fifth-generation, X2 “flying car” taking off, flying, and successfully landing in front of a large crowd in Dubai.
In addition to the impressive demonstration, the company also gave a progress update on its sixth-generation car that both drives and flies (the fifth-gen doesn’t have wheels - it’s basically a drone that carries people.)
A brief history of flying cars
According to
Electrek
, AeroHT has been experimenting extensively with flying cars since its inception in 2013. Over the last decade, they’ve flown over 15,000 safely manned flights with the goal of combining automotive and aerospace technology to develop domestic (and
electric
!) flying vehicles at scale. Despite its lack of wheels, AeroHT still refers to its current X2 as a flying car since it’s modeled off the design of the XPeng P7 Sedan from XPeng Motors.
Up until this point, all of the AeroHT footage has been out of China and not in front of a live crowd, but as XPeng and co get more confident, they’re ready to go more public with their technology.
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Gitex Global display in Dubai
AeroHT chose the Gitex Global tech show at the world trade center in Dubai to demonstrate the X2 in action.
After its successful flight, XPeng’s vice president and chairman, Brian Gu, said, “XPeng X2’s public display in Dubai represents a significant milestone for XPeng AeroHT and the international achievement of flying cars.
Dubai is a world-renowned ‘City of Innovation’, which is the reason we decided to hold the X2 first public flight event here. Today’s flight is a major step in XPeng’s exploration of future mobility.”
MORE: China is Testing Floating Cars
The future of mobility
As Gu mentioned, XPegn AeroHT is looking to fully expand our thinking on mobility and what its future could have in store. A presumed aspect of this is the sixth-generation model that is a true flying car in the sense that it can be driven on the road too.
AeroHT has said that the 6th gen model will offer a lightweight design with a foldable rotor so as the easy transition from the road to the air.
They also stated that the vehicle will arrive sometime in 2024 and cost around $156,000. Pricey for a car, sure, but seems like a steal of a deal for a car/helicopter.
A press release regarding the sixth generation stated, “Equipped with both manual and automatic flight driving modes, this next-generation electric flying car, which is able to drive in the air and on roads, represents a true transformation from two-dimensional to three-dimensional mobility. As well as meeting daily travel demands, it can trigger the folding deformation system to achieve vertical take-off and landing for a low-altitude manned flight.”
Looks like we’re a bit closer to living in the world of The Jetsons.
MORE: Tesla's Cybertruck Just Got Even More Ridiculous
Insurance for all driving cars
While there isn’t yet insurance for flying cars, you’re going to want to make sure that your driving car has solid coverage.
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