A personal flying vehicle capable of driving on conventional roads may be closer than we expected. With startups like China’s Xpeng Motors bursting onto the scene, flying car production could be just a couple of years away.
One such vehicle is Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Company’s or Xpeng’s AeroHT X2 flying car. The company’s eVTOL offering recently has taken to the skies in Dubai and Guangzhou.
The X2 is a two-seater with a top speed of 130 km/h. The vehicle, which is capable of fully autonomous flight and is outfitted with intelligent flight control systems, can carry up to 500 kg on takeoff and has eight propellers on board.
Xpeng, however, is not the only player in the market. For nearly a decade, Chinese companies such as Ehang Holdings Ltd. and TCab Tech have been developing flying cars.
American companies such as Joby and Archer are also competing to launch their eVTOL vehicles. Alef Aeronautics, based in California, has also promised customers flying cars within a few years for a hefty $300,000 price tag.
With Morgan Stanley analysts predicting that the eVTOL market will be worth more than $1 trillion by 2040, an increasing number of companies will emerge to carve a piece of the market for themselves.
