Electric Vehicle That Can Both Fly And Drive On Roads Showcased For First Time
Xpeng, a Chinese electric vehicle maker has come up with a flying car prototype unlike any other. Internally known as Xpeng X3, the flying car prototype in this case looks a like a normal car, but with a twist.
The X3 prototype is equipped with giant rotors, akin to the ones seen on drones. The vehicle took its maiden flight recently, and the video shows X3 lifting off the ground and hovering at a height of 30 feet.
A car? A drone? It's both!
While we've all seen prototypes of flying cars that can vertically take off and land, we've never really seem them flying forward like this. This astonishing vehicle with its peculiar design not only flew forward but also turned around to return to its starting point before landing.
Also read:?Future Is Coming: Suzuki And SkyDrive Are Building 'Flying Cars' For India
The video claims that X3 weighs about 1950 kg (4,300 lbs), making this flight an even more impressive feat.
Watch the flying car in action below
As pointed out rightly by Futurism, the flying car is unusually long, perhaps to make room for the rotors and all hardware that supports electric vehicles. The motors on the X3 are designed to be retractable, implying that the car is designed not only to fly but also to be driven on roads.
Also read:?Futuristic Flying Car Receives Approval To Fly With Two Passengers In Slovakia
Even then, it appears that there's a long time to go until we see an Xpeng flying car in commercial settings. There's so much we still don't know. For instance, we don't know how much of the car's inside is filled with hardware and whether it even has a functional driver space yet.
Last month, Xpeng debuted its X2 prototype in Dubai, and we witnessed the vehicle take off and land vertically in real time. You can watch it in action below.
What do you think about the future of mobility? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.?
References
Landymore, F. (2022, November 6). Company Builds Electric Flying Car Powered By Giant Drone Propellers. Futurism. https://futurism.com/the-byte/electric-car-giant-drone-propellers
