FLYING CARS MIGHT not be science fiction for long.
Stefan Klein and Juraj Vaculik, cofounders of a company Slovakian startup called AeroMobil, have created a beautiful prototype that has already been on several successful test flights.
Business Insider touched base with the pair to hear more about their amazing vehicle.
Klein first started dreaming up designs more than 20 years ago. Here’s one of his sketches from the early 1990s.
Fast forward almost 25 years, and here’s the team with the AeroMobil 3.0.
“To marry the car and the airplane is an interesting engineering and design challenge,” Klein told Business Insider.
“Approaching this challenge just by adding wings to the car or modifying the airplane to fit the road was not an option for us.”
The AeroMobil 3.0 is designed for both functionality and aesthetics.
Although people call AeroMobil 3.0 a “multi-modal vehicle” or a “flying car,” the cofounders prefer to think of their creation as being in a whole new category.
In the same way that a motorcycle isn’t simply a two-wheeled car or a bicycle with an engine, cofounder Juraj Vaculik explains, the AeroMobil 3.0 is a completely new beast.
When in flight mode, the vehicle has retractable wings and a back propeller.
In flight, it can reach 124 miles per hour and fly for 430 miles with a full tank of gas.
With its wings folded back, the AeroMobil is designed to drive on regular roads.
Owners could park it in normal parking spots and fill up its petrol at normal petrol stations. It gets 29 miles per gallon.
He says the team wants to bring its “flying roadster” to market in the next two or three years.
The vehicle seats two people.
And is equipped with all the dashboards needed for flight.
The first model of the AeroMobil to hit the market will be very high-end, produced in a limited edition.
But the team wants its second product to be priced alongside other luxury cars.
"And let me confess, for the author/designer there are two moments of fascination: first, to see the object from the outside, to perceive its design, lines, shape, the 'physical attractiveness,'" Klein says.
"And the second, to see the surroundings from inside of the car/plane, to become a part of the created object – that is probably the strongest moment."
That's right: The AeroMobil 3 has gone on several successful test flights.
It needs about 200 meters for take-offs and landings.
The AeroMobil team sees the vehicle eventually making traffic more efficient by allowing people to use the air for journeys up to 500 miles.
"Our intention is to change the world of personal travel," Klein says.
"We want to bring back the excitement which we once had when we drove cars or flew airplanes."
Here's the company's full ad.
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