In 1940, Henry Ford said: “Mark my word: A combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” And it may be here.
A prototype for a commercially available, street-legal flying car made its first flight recently. Called the Aeromobil Version 2.5, this sleek, 992-pound “rodable aircraft” comes from, a Slovakian company. A veritable flying car, the Aeromobil doesn’t require special aviation fuel, and its petite frame allows it to fit into a standard parking spot. This steel and carbon fiber design helps it go up to 124 mph with a range of 430 miles.
Its lead designer, Stefan Klein, has worked on projects for Audi, BMW, and Volkswagen and has been working a car with lofty aspirations since the early 1990s. But there are a handful of start-ups also developing flying cars around the world. The US-based has a prototype with wing folding vertically like a Lamborghini’s doors. , a Dutch design, is a three-wheeled car that turns into a gyrocopter at the airport.