![]() Who will drive these flying cars? Will passengers need a licence? How will "vertiports" and vehicles overhead at low altitudes affect neighbourhood life? Which jurisdiction will be responsible for a crash in mid-air? The report raises some concerns without fully addressing them: noise, pollution, security, sustainability, cost. The role of cities in ensuring safety will be to enforce the regulations set forth by these providers.Īccording to a blueprint report published by the FAA, flying car operations will at first use existing regulatory framework and rules (such as visual flight rules, instrument flight rules) as a platform for greater aircraft performance and higher levels of autonomy. The ANSP has full jurisdiction over a given nation's airspace operations, and is the authority that certifies new aircraft types after rigorous safety reviews. Urban air mobility operations will chiefly be the responsibility of a country's air navigation service provider (ANSP), such as the FAA in the US. Ideally, there would be an immediate transfer of authority from ground to air, but the legal and safety hurdles are complex. "The hardest part remains the hand-off: we don't know what happens when the vehicle transfers from ground to air," explains Dukhovny. Is this the start of an aviation revolution?īut the Model A is intended to be a car at the end of the day, and rendering a car safe for the skies – light and aerodynamic – may in fact mean it's less safe for the road.How the flying car could change the world.If done right, the flying car should be safer." "When cars began to replace horses, a lot of similar questions popped up: about safety, about what's going to happen to cities…many wanted to go back to horses. The Model A is considered an ultralight, "low speed vehicle", a legal classification originally reserved for golf carts and small electric vehicles – and one that comes with very strict guidelines as laid out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The California-based company hopes to begin manufacturing in 2025 or early 2026, though vehicles are already available for pre-order (the price tag is currently $300,000 (£246,000), but Alef eventually hopes to scale the cost to $35,000 or £28,700 each). "For example, to avoid differential stress we need highly specialised propeller motor systems." Size, weight, and price constraints will dictate how soon these vehicles are available to the public, and whether they'll be safe to ride. "Some of the components which we need simply do not exist in the world today," explains Jim Dukhovny, the chief executive of Alef Aeronautics. So far, however, only a handful of investors have actually seen the Model A fly in a demonstration in 2019, according to the company's website.īut a host of technological challenges still remain. Model A's novel approach to design is as much about function as form: the company claims the car's proprietary technology allows it to achieve vertical take-off and transform into a biplane midflight, with doors that will convert into wings, all in an effort to dramatically change the everyday commute. Sleek and compact, the vehicle is designed to look much like a regular car, will need no runway for lift off, and should even fit into a traditional parking space. This road-legal passenger car will fit two occupants and boast a driving range of 200 miles (322km) and a flight range of 110 miles (177km). But there may still be plenty of challenges to solve before flying cars become reality in cities around the world – not least the constant drone and whoosh of flying cars as they pass by, take off or land.Īlef's founders began working on the concept in 2015 and created their first full-size flying-car prototype in 2019: the Model A.
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