Here's a flying car you will actually be able to buy this year
Flying cars are the future, right? In the 1960ies, the world imagined a future in which anyone could afford to take a scenic drive above the scenery, but the technology simply never got there.
Now, Slovakian startup AeroMobil has announced it will be launching a flying car this year -- and unlike their first prototype, unveiled in 2014, this one will be commercially available.
AeroMobil, which recently raised $3.2 million in funding, will show off the car at the Top Marques Monaco, the supercar show taking place on April 20, 2017.
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The car is a "completely integrated aircraft as well as a fully functioning four-wheeled car, powered by hybrid propulsion," claims AeroMobil.
Unfortunately, besides that we don't have absolutely any details about the vehicle, including the price. The only thing we do know -- confirmed to Mashable by AeroMobil -- that the car's full specs will be unveiled at the aforementioned supercar show, and that the car will be available for pre-orders this year.
We do know a thing or two about AeroMobil's 2014 prototype, though. It required regular gas available on any gas station, and only needed a 650-feet strip of land to take off. It could land on an even smaller strip -- just 164 feet -- and achieved speed of 124 miles per hour, according to AeroMobil.
On the topic of flying cars, rules and regulations are just as important as the technological aspect. AeroMobil claims the vehicle is "in compliance with the existing regulatory frameworks for both cars and airplanes." That still sounds like you're need both a driver's and a pilot's license to operate it, but we can't really imagine a different scenario anyways.
Besides the coolness factor, who'd want to use this thing, and for what? AeroMobil has a surprisingly down to earth answer. "AeroMobil aims to make personal transportation vastly more efficient and environmentally friendly by allowing significantly faster door-to-door travel for medium distance trips and in areas with limited or missing road infrastructure," the company said.
We've seen concepts and prototypes of flying cars before, but everything seemed very, very far from commercial availability. We'll see if AeroMobil can deliver on its promise.
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Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
