World’s First Flying Car Earns FAA Approval for Testing

Tsing

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Alef Automotive has announced that the Model A is now cleared for take off, having earned a special airworthiness certificate from the FAA that allows the vehicle, dubbed as "the world's first real flying car," to be tested on the road and sky. Already available for pre-order ahead of its planned release in 2025 for $299,999, the Model A is an all-electric vehicle that offers a road range of 200 miles and flying range of 110 miles. It will be certified as a "low speed vehicle," meaning that it will only be able to go up to 25 MPH on paved roads.

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25Mph? That's not a car, that is a mobility scooter. And how is it the first when this already exists (and can go 100Mph on the road) :
 
Reads like a nice toy for billionaires, though 300k would be accessible for at least multi millionaire. At 25 mph, I don't know, they need to up that to 65. Interesting to hop traffic jams. But the city only speed of 25 mph seems too limiting.
 
I'd love to see one "racing" on the highway @25mph ;) ;) :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Makes all those chinese $1000 cars look like speed demons :p :p

BTW 110 flying miles range is ridiculous, more like 70miles in real life. Where do you think its going?
 
This thing is bullshit. At leas until they get a REAL one on Jay Leno's Garage or something to that effect so he can drive/fly it. All of the concept videos are so much BS. No motors or propellers found throughout the vehicle. No space for batteries or crash absorption infrastructure or steering or ANYTHING of that sort. No mention of weight or carrying capacity of the vehicle. Hell in one of the videos the 'car' is flying as though you're seated in the center of the car looking what would be UP. It's all computer generated bullshit. How can the FAA approve something at this stage... it's pre production, hell it's pre pre pre production all mental gamesmanship at this stage.

Maybe that's the level of Approval the FAA gave... "Yea you can try and make this." .

Sorry just saw an article on qz.com that had this gem of a paragaph:

"Alef has another electric flying vehicle en route, which is slated for release in 2035. The “Model Z,” a four-person sedan, will be priced at $35,000 and is slated to have a 300+ mile flying range and 200+ mile driving range."

I'm putting this here right now. If these don't require a pilots license and truly are 35k. I'll buy one, full stop.
 
Grimlakin said:
This thing is bullshit. At leas until they get a REAL one on Jay Leno's Garage or something to that effect so he can drive/fly it. All of the concept videos are so much BS. No motors or propellers found throughout the vehicle. No space for batteries or crash absorption infrastructure or steering or ANYTHING of that sort. No mention of weight or carrying capacity of the vehicle. Hell in one of the videos the 'car' is flying as though you're seated in the center of the car looking what would be UP. It's all computer generated bullshit. How can the FAA approve something at this stage... it's pre production, hell it's pre pre pre production all mental gamesmanship at this stage.

Maybe that's the level of Approval the FAA gave... "Yea you can try and make this." .

Sorry just saw an article on qz.com that had this gem of a paragaph:

"Alef has another electric flying vehicle en route, which is slated for release in 2035. The “Model Z,” a four-person sedan, will be priced at $35,000 and is slated to have a 300+ mile flying range and 200+ mile driving range."

I'm putting this here right now. If these don't require a pilots license and truly are 35k. I'll buy one, full stop.
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At the bottom of the article, it says that they haven't actually done any practical research and development up to this point due to not having the necessary certification to do so. It says that it has successfully flown a skeleton and full-size version of the vehicle, but of course nobody can see any proof of it. They claim that the vehicle will be able to take off and land vertically. I'd love to see how they're able to pull that feat off with the way it looks from the outside.
According to the company, an initial automated test flight of a skeleton version of the car was successfully conducted in 2018, and a full-size prototype was flown the following year. But Alef said that it needed the FAA’s special airworthiness certificate to continue conducting the necessary research and development.
Click to expand...
Back to the Future 2 was a fun imagination of the future, but there is this little thing called "physics" that us 4th-dimensional beings need to adhere to.
 
Grimlakin said:
"Alef has another electric flying vehicle en route, which is slated for release in 2035. The “Model Z,” a four-person sedan, will be priced at $35,000 and is slated to have a 300+ mile flying range and 200+ mile driving range."

I'm putting this here right now. If these don't require a pilots license and truly are 35k. I'll buy one, full stop.
Click to expand...
And I have a bridge to sell you. These are Elon Musk type empty promises to drive up hype for the company and therefore investment.
 
MadMummy76 said:
And I have a bridge to sell you. These are Elon Musk type empty promises to drive up hype for the company and therefore investment.
Click to expand...
I mean, if Alef actually delivers on their promise that will be quite a feat and worth the purchase. Grimlakin's whole point is that it will be impossible to pull off, which is why he said it. And I agree.
 
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