Watch: Flying car moves closer to takeoff
Flying car moves closer to takeoff
Alef Aeronautics, a Silicon Valley startup, is trying to make "sci-fi a reality" with its Jetsons-like flying car. Simulation videos show what the company hopes the car will one day be able to do.
A first-of-its-kind flying car is one step closer to reality after video showed a successful test flight.
A brief test flight video from NBC News shows the Alef Aeronautics car lift up and fly over an SUV in a remote field somewhere in Silicon Valley. NBC says they didn’t get to see the driver enter or exit the vehicle, and they had to film from 50 yards away.
"We still have some intellectual property we’re trying to protect," Alef Aeronautics CEO Jim Dukhovny told NBC.
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What is Alef Aeronautics?
The backstory:
According to its website, Alef Aeronautics is an electric transportation company developing a flying car - "a road-legal passenger car capable of achieving vertical takeoff and forward flight."
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Alef has been test driving – and flying – the Alef full-size prototype since 2019.
Alef Aeronautics flying car (Alef Aeronautics)
The company says it’s the first "true" flying car because it has vertical takeoff.
How much will a flying car cost?
What we know:
The car, which is 100% electric, will cost $300,000. Alef hopes to begin production by early next year. There are 3,200 preorders.
Alef is aiming for a four-person sedan, Alef Model Z, to launch in 2035 for $35,000. The company expects it to have a 200-mile flying range and a 400-mile driving range.
What we don't know:
It’s unclear how long it will take for the cars to hit airspace in the U.S. Currently, only a few countries allow for the type of ground-to-air transit that Alef is designing.
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"It’s going to be a slow, incremental approach," Dukhovny told NBC.
How is the Alef flying car different from flying taxis?
Dig deeper:
Alef says unlike flying taxis, also known as "electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, or eVTOL," the Alef flying car is intended for people to drive – and it doesn’t require an airport or vertiport.
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The vertical takeoff and lack of a runway requirement also makes it different from cars with expandable wings, the company says.
The Source: This report includes information from Alef Aeronautics, The Associated Press and NBC News.