The Aeromobil company, based in Slovakia, has designed and developed the world’s first flying car. The car, the Aeromobil 3.0, was originally built in 2013 and has been test driven and flown several times. The previous models had been in the works for more than 20 years until the creators finally came up with the prototype that achieved the ability to both drive and fly. This is the fourth, and their final, version.
It did crash land during a test flight last year but the pilot and the car/plane were fine. There parachute deployed and the damage to both was limited. The company looks to begin selling the Aeromobil 3.0 some time next year. Their main target market is the luxury car buyers of the world as well as wealthy flying enthusiasts.
While no definitive selling price has been set as of yet, it is expected to sell for a couple of hundred thousand dollars each. The infrastructure was created to stay as close to a car design as possible. The inventors believed it would be more efficient to operate that way.
It can take off and land anywhere and only needs about two hundred yards or so of runway space to take off. the company says that the vehicle is made from advanced composites and has an advanced parachute system, automatic pilot and dual controls for both the car and the plane.
The Terrafugia Company, based in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA, has also developed a flying car that it looks to launch in around the same time frame as Aeromobil.
PHOTO CREDITS: Aeromobil / Terrafugia