Everyday, technology just gets a bit crazier and crazier.
From cell phones that fold in half to the ability to 3D print anything you’d like at home, the sci-fi world of movies is becoming closer and closer to our reality.
And at the 2023 Detroit Auto Show, Alef Aeronautics made sure we knew the future was here with its newest invention – a flying car.
The company has spent years developing the flying car and it made sure not to disappoint – the ‘vehicle’ was flown during the beginning days of the auto show.
The goal of the car, CEO Jim Dukhovny said, is to help people live where they want, with the ability to fly to work. It opens up all sorts of possibilities to streamline travel in the world, he said.
Alef Aeronautics
The car is designed with three modes: drive, fly and hop.
If you want to get from point a to point b, you choose how you get there,” Dukhovny said.
The flying car is powered by four small engines that are positioned where the wheels typically go on a traditional vehicle. The car has a mesh on top that allows for air flow from the propellers.
“You need airflow so obviously we cannot have a solid top, but we can’t have it completely open for safety reasons,” Dukhovny said.
The car will be able to drive, switch to take off vertically as well as fly forward, he said. It can travel 200 miles on the road, and 110 miles in the sky. He said it has more safety features than helicopters and airplanes do.
“We want to make sure that it a) is safe and b) feels safe,” Dukhovny said.
The trick to making the car fly without wings, he said, is that after take-off, it can turn vertical while the driver remains in the center. The center operates as a sort of gyroscope, allowing the plane to fly while the drive stays stable.
Alef Aeronautics
The starting price for the flying vehicle is $300,000, which the CEO said he knows is too high for the average driver. However, he expects as the car is produced and grows in popularity, that price point will change.
“It’s handmade because it’s custom and low volume, but fundamentally there is nothing in here which would make it more expensive than a Toyota Corolla,” Dukhovny said.
“But the reason your Toyota Corolla costs $35,000 or $40,000 is because it has volume — because they’re producing millions of those. We still need to get there. So volume is important.”
Also, automation and making things work efficiently — we still have a long way to go.”
But he is hopeful that the car will soon be available for the public. “If everything goes right, we plan to start the first production of the first car by the end of 2025.”
One hitch – to fly the car, you need a pilot’s license. Dukhovny said that currently they are working with the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave the company the first ever Special Airworthiness Certification which means that the company can showcase it both on the road, and in the air.
He hopes, he said, that within the first 10 years, the car will not require a pilot’s license and that the price will be closer to $35,000 per vehicle.
And that, he said, will make the average person able to enjoy the benefits of a flying car. People spend a week of their entire year sitting in traffic, Dukhovny said.
“I want to give that time back to you,” he said. “The time of cars is over. The time of flying cars starts today.”
For a look at this spectacular new car, watch below!