The world’s most advanced flying car may still sound like the stuff of science fiction, but not after a little-known Slovakian start-up AeroMobil uncovered their car/plane hybrid, AeroMobil 3.0, claiming that we are close to making our childhood dreams a reality!
On October 29th, at the Pioneers Festival, the Slovakian company premiered the design, which looks pretty damn cool in both flight and road modes. The company said that the compact vehicle is designed to be able to drive in road traffic and fit into a standard parking space.
AeroMobil 3.0 was certified by the Slovak Federation of Ultra-Light Flying, the designers boasted that their classy flying roadster only took 10 months to produce, which is a very short time to achieve such work!
The AeroMobil 3.0 was designed by AeroMobil company co-founders Stefan Klein and Juraj Vaculik.
AeroMobil co-founder and CTO Stefan Klein was the designer who made the prototype with the company’s other co-founder Juraj Vaculik. Stefan Klein had this to say:
“I’m very happy with what we were able to achieve in such a short time with the team of only 12 people. AeroMobil 3.0 is not the end of a challenging project, it’s the beginning of a whole new adventure which may change the way how we look at the personal transport in the future.”
The new flying roadster has a steel framework and a carbon-fibre body. It’s certainly matured vastly from the wobbly pre-prototype version the company showedexactly a year ago. Powered by a 100-horsepower, four-cylinder Rotax engine, the Aeromobil 3.0 can reach speeds of 160 km/h, and as a plane it can travel at 200 km/h. For taking off, all that is required is 250 meters of runway or grass.
The AeroMobil 3.0 control panel.
Altitude is limited to 9,800 feet as going much higher would need pressurized cabins. The wings tuck neatly into the body when the flying roadster is on the street but fold out automatically for flight, increasing the width from 5ft to 27ft.
The interior of the AeroMobil 3.0.
Actually, the new dreamy roadster is small enough to be stored in a garage! That’s what the designers confirmed. Certainly, it’s not formed to be a car replacement, but it would be perfect if used for suburban aviation, because it reduces costs and doesn’t need much to be stored somewhere.
The AeroMobil 3.0 during its first flight.
According to IFL Science, the normal driver’s license isn’t enough to be able to drive flying roadster:
“It’s the equivalent of a light-sport aircraft, so you’d need to get a sport pilot license.”
Stefan Vadocz, AeroMobil’s head of public relations told Motherboard:
“There are a lot of things before us, but we will be working hard to do those as efficiently as possible to bring the vehicle to the market.”
He also added:
“When you can fly, it’s more time efficient than cars or waiting at the airport for a short flight. You also consume less fuel. And compared to small airplanes, you don’t have to rent a hanger and other maintenance costs. When people start to realize how much they are bound to existing infrastructure, they’ll want more options.”
The new flying roadster is ready to be tested in real flight conditions, after getting certified by Solvakia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The co-founder of the company, Juraj Vaculik, said:
“What people need to know is that certification can take years and tests can take a lot of time. We are ready to start and if we have to change the headlights because of the angle how they beam, we’ll do what we need to. But I think what we have now is pretty close.”
The video below shows some shots of the AeroMobil 3.0.
The company said that the same materials will be used to finish the final product, with all revealed features as well, including avionics equipment, autopilot and an advanced parachute deployment system. However, AeroMobil 3.0 won’t be inexpensive. The expected cost would be about £172,000.
With the development of incredible technologies such as this one can only imagine the possibilities that we have as a human race if we all freely turned our attention towards both developing and implementing alternative solutions to energy. As cool as the AeroMobil 3.0 is, let it be a reminder of the incredible potentiality that we hold as a human race. It’s time we all stand up to and come together to develop the solutions necessary to save ourselves and the planet!
Sources:
(1) IFL Science
(2) Gizmag.com
(3) Washington Post
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