A British company named Vertical Aerospace has launched a flying car named VA-1X. The company revealed that this flying car has a maximum range of 100 miles, and it can carry four passengers at a time. Vertical Aerospace claimed that this craft is the first winged craft capable of doing electric vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL).
Commercial Flights to be Launched in 2024
The flying car manufacturer is currently planning to begin testing of these sky taxis by 2021, and they expect to have its commercial roll-out in 2024. Journeys in these flying taxis could cost £10 per mile, an amount between that of a helicopter and a taxi. Vertical Aerospace revealed that the flying car is capable of attaining a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour.
Interestingly, this new flying car is a spiritual successor to the company's previous design Seraph. Experts in Vertical Aerospace revealed that the experience of making Seraph has helped a lot to develop VA-1X, flying taxis that could revolutionize the travel sector in the future.
Electrification of Flying Taxis
"eVTOL technology will revolutionize travel, combining the safety of commercial airlines with the disruptive environmental and cost benefits of the electrification of flight. With the launch of the VA-1X, we're proud to be taking eVTOL one step closer to mass-market adoption and supporting the next era of aviation. At Vertical Aerospace, we believe that people should be able to quickly and affordably get from A to B without sacrificing the planet," said Michael Cervenka, CEO of Vertical Aerospace in a recent statement.
According to experts in Vertical Aerospace, these new-age flying cars will have a length and width of 13 meters and 14 meters respectively. As the dimensions are quite small, these flying cars can be taken off and land on existing helipads. These flying cars also require very low energy when compared to their chopper counterparts.
In the meantime, a Japanese company named SkyDrive has recently claimed that their flying cars will have its commercial roll-out by 2023. The company revealed that these cars are also capable of vertical take-off and landing which is very much necessary to cover small distances. SkyDrive also unveiled the prototype of this future car, and travel experts believe that introduction of these flying vessels will end traffic jams in heavily crowded cities.
