The Chinese manufacturer Xpeng is taking advantage of CES in Las Vegas to unveil its latest creation, the new Land Aircraft Carrier. This is a unique electric car, which has the specificity of also being able to fly. This drone car will indeed be offered for sale this year!
A few decades ago, everyone thought that flying cars would be everywhere in the next few years, and that traffic jams would be a thing of the past. Certainly, there are technologies to reduce these, such as that developed by Google, but it is not thanks to flying machines.
An astonishing electric car
Certainly, many people are interested in this technology, and even the Paris town hall which wanted to put flying taxis into service in the capital. We also think of Hyundai, which has just unveiled an evolution of its eVTOL concept during CES in Las Vegas, which is being held at this very moment. But another manufacturer also took advantage of the American tech show to present its idea of a flying car. This is the Chinese brand Xpeng.
The latter is already present in Europe with its electric cars and has just revealed the characteristics of its new X9. But the firm is also interested in flying machines, having already tested a first prototype at the end of 2022 in China. A successful test for this Xpeng Voyager, half-car, half-drone. Moreover, the company does not intend to stop there, quite the contrary.
And so it is also in Las Vegas that Xpeng lifts the veil on a new iteration of its flying car, which we were lucky enough to be able to approach. The latter is named after Xpeng eVTOL Flying Car and is developed by AeroHT, a division of the brand dedicated to flying vehicles. The latter also revealed its Land Aircraft Carrieranother modular vehicle capable of flight. And if this astonishing machine, somewhere between an electric van and a helicopter, looks like a simple concept or an engineer’s madness, that is in reality far from being the case. Because this vehicle will indeed be sold to the public.
This is precisely what the Asian manufacturer announced in a press release just published. The latter explains to us that his flying car will be offered for pre-order from the 4th quarter of 2024. The first deliveries are planned a year later, at the end of 2025. We will therefore have to show a little more patience before seeing this machine in the air in our regions.
Several uses
If this new Land Aircraft Carrier is aimed in particular at wealthy individuals who love thrills and who would like to save time on the road, that’s not all. And for good reason, Xpeng explains that this machine could also be useful for emergency services. Thus, it would be possible to combine the advantages of a land vehicle for certain interventions with those of a helicopter, in particular to reach areas that are difficult to access. But also to get to the hospital more quickly.
For the moment, the Asian firm does not provide the slightest technical information on its flying car, but we only know thatit is 100% electric. If it looks like a simple car, as futuristic as it is, it actually hides its blades in the rear part when it is in road configuration. On board, the driving position should be very refined like that of the eVTOL Flying Car, which is simply equipped with a classic steering wheel and a joystick.
It also remains to be seen whether this machine will require training or a pilot’s license, which obviously remains very probable. However, nothing has yet been specified on this subject, and the conditions will undoubtedly depend on the legislation in force in each country where the vehicle will be marketed. For the moment, we still do not know whether it will make it to Europe, while the manufacturer wants to invade the market with its electric cars.