Sci-fi loves a flying car. From a way to avoid traffic to creating gridlocks in 3D, we have been brought up to believe that a plane/car hybrid is a cornerstone of the “future.” That future might soon be the present, as such a hybrid vehicle might soon enter the market. The name is AirCar, and Slovakian company Klein Vision is developing it.
Back in 2021, the first iteration of the vehicle was given an official Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority, after it had successfully conducted 70 hours of flight testing along the lines of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, with over 200 takeoffs and landings at the time.
It even successfully conducted the first inter-city flight, a 35-minute flight from the international airport in Nitra to the international airport in Bratislava on June 28, 2021.
The second iteration of this vehicle is going to debut for testing later this summer, and it is the one that might be commercially available soon. Its tail and wings contract or extend depending on whether it’s in car mode or plane mode, and it can reach speeds of 200 kilometers (124 miles) per hour on the ground and over 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour in the air. It has a flight range of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
According to Klein Vision co-founder Anton Zajac, as reported by TNW, the AirCar 2 is a production-ready prototype that could come on the market with a cost between $800,000 and $1 million. This information has come out as the founder of Klein Vision, Stefan Klein, was honored with the Special Recognition Award for Engineering Excellence by the Living Legends of Aviation.
“Receiving this recognition from the Living Legends of Aviation is a tremendous honor and a humbling milestone,” Stefan Klein said in a statement. “The AirCar fulfills a lifelong dream to bring the freedom of flight into the hands of everyday people. With the launch of our production prototype, we are one step closer to transforming how the world moves – merging the road and the sky into a new dimension of personal mobility.”
There is certainly ambition in making such a vehicle – according to the short Klein Vision documentary, a project decades in the making. It might not be for everyone, but it seems that a few people might combine getting a driving license and a pilot’s license for such a unique personal transport system.
Source Link: A Flying Car That Can Reach Over 155 MPH In Air Might Come To Market In 2026
