Flying car of the future
Getting stuck in traffic jams on your commute to work could be a thing of the past in the very near future, according to the inventor of a flying car.
The radically styled hybrid has a steel framework and a carbon-fibre body. It runs on standard unleaded petrol and can unfurl its wings in just a few seconds, before taking off at a speed of 130 kilometres an hour.
When the car is on the street, the wings tuck neatly into the vehicle’s body allowing it to fit into a normal-sized parking space.
The AeroMobil stole the show at the recent AeroTech Congress in Canada, even drawing interest from Nasa specialists.
It is the brainchild of Stefan Klein, who has been perfecting his creation for 20 years.
“I wanted to integrate the modern communication technology as well as designer aspects so that the object is attractive and doesn’t look bizarre on the road,” he said.
Its creators hope to get the production version ready for next year. The idea is to eventually offer a range of different models.
They are also working on a crucial problem: where would these flying cars take off from, if not from airport runways – bearing in mind that their width grows to 16 metres once the wings unfold. One idea is to build special runways near highways or big cities.
When asked how realistic their project is, the AeroMobil’s creators are quick to remark how people thought the first mobile phones were a joke because they were so big and heavy. Maybe the day of the flying car is closer than we think.
