AMAC Exclusive – By Neil Banerji
Flying cars aren’t just coming soon – they’ve arrived.
Earlier this month, Alef Automotive, a California startup, received FAA approval to begin testing a new prototype flying personal vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing abilities on public roads (and skies).
Translation? Flying cars are now a reality, and the government just made them street legal—under certain conditions.
It might not be too many years before you start seeing Alef’s “model A” soaring over your neighborhood. The company is already taking pre-orders (you can join the list for a mere $300,000) and expects to begin delivery in 2025.
Although ambitious engineers have developed vehicles with driving and flying capabilities for decades, they have always been curiosities rather than commercially viable products. Now, Alef and other companies like it hope to make flying cars widely available.
A host of startups and aviation giants alike are hoping to cash in on this exciting new development in the skies. The burgeoning ”electric vertical takeoff and landing” (eVTOL) market has witnessed a surge in demand from investors and prospective buyers alike, with some analysts predicting its value will skyrocket from $86 million in 2022 to $1.06 billion by 2030. Another study predicts that the market could reach $18 billion by 2030.
While Alef appears to be the leader in flying car technology in the United States, other companies – particularly in Asia – have jumped into the race. China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAC) recently released its own concept of a flying car that can also drive on roads.
In pursuing its own plans for producing flying cars, NIDEC, a Japanese manufacturing company, is entering the U.S. market in conjunction with Brazilian aerospace powerhouse Embraer. Eve Air Mobility, another Brazilian company, has also successfully tested an early prototype of its own flying car.
Partnering with American company Joby Aviation, South Korean telecommunications firm SK Telecom has also advanced the possibility of a future in which eVTOL taxi service could be readily available.
Proponents of eVTOLs say that the technology could reduce congestion, which would both help alleviate pollution problems in urban areas and be a massive time saver for drivers. They would also enable faster point-to-point travel and enhance accessibility to remote locations.
Additionally, a flying fleet of emergency services vehicles would no longer have to contend with traffic, enabling faster response times and swift transportation to hospitals.
However, not everyone is on board with the idea of ordinary drivers taking to the skies. The left-leaning Center for American Progress has worried that flying cars will “turbocharge urban sprawl” and “weaken the social cohesion that comes from shared experiences,” arguing that such developments will undermine “consensus in a democracy.”
On a more practical level, some critics have pointed out that the country is already struggling to keep up with building new infrastructure for electric vehicles, which have exploded in popularity. Making the switch to eVTOLs would undoubtedly prove an even more gargantuan undertaking, requiring everything from designated takeoff and landing zones to an entirely new air traffic management system.
Moreover, while electric vehicles can operate under virtually the same regulatory and safety rules as gas vehicles, eVTOLs would present a whole new host of problems for lawmakers to address.
But concerns aside, the prospect of cruising through the skies on your morning commute will continue to capture the imagination of Americans.
These recent developments mean flying cars may even become an issue in the 2024 presidential election. Former President Donald Trump has specifically highlighted “vertical takeoff and landing vehicles” as part of his effort to create a “Quantum Leap” in the American standard of living.
In a video that emphasized the importance of American companies remaining on the cutting edge, the former president remarked that “Dozens of major companies in the United States and China are racing to develop vertical takeoff and landing vehicles for families and individuals.”
“Just as the United States led the automotive revolution in the last century. I want to ensure that America and not China, leads this revolution in air mobility,” Trump commented.
While flying cars once seemed confined to the daydreams of tech whizzes and science fiction fans, they may soon be coming to a neighborhood near you. Much like the development of the original personal car, eVTOLs will affect society in far-reaching and profound ways, some of which we can’t even yet imagine.
Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.
