Nataly
It has been more than ten years in the making, but a Slovakian firm AeroMobil is finally ready to unveil its first commercialized flying car, Joinfo.com reports with reference to Daily Mail.
Called AeroMobil, the vehicle has been redesigned with hundreds of improvements and will take the stage at Top Marques Monaco super car show on April 20.
With the flying car, AeroMobil aims to make personal transportation more efficient by offering the choice of transport on the road or in the sky – and forever putting an end to traffic jams.
AeroMobil is launching its new model of the flying car at the super car show next week, which the team has said was built in compliance with the existing regulatory frameworks for both cars and airplanes.
‘By combining aero and car functionality in perfect harmony it heralds a new era in efficient and exciting travel, offering users an unparalleled choice of transport on the road or in the air,’ the AeroMobil team shared in an announcement.
‘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 team began this journey in 1990 with a sketch of a vision for the future of transportation.
And over the years, it has morphed into a fully functioning machine.
‘We have been developing the concept of a flying car since 1990,’ said Tatiana Veber, AeroMobil spokesman.
‘Our first model looked quite bizarre and it would have problems in the regular use.’
‘That was a signal to improve the concept of the flying car in a way to become an integral part of the regular road traffic.’
‘We got a positive feedback from several experts in avionics, which appreciated design and the technical solution of the process of transformation.’
‘The car is constructed to be fueled at regular gas stations using the fuel for Rotax 912 ULS engine.’
Although the fly car has changed, the firm has always boasted that its vehicle is capable tucking away its wings once it reaches the ground – allowing it to seamlessly pull in traditional parking spots.
When used as a car, the vehicle has a range of 310 miles and measures nearly five feet long.
Built from light-weight steel framework and carbon coating, when converted into a plane, the vehicle measures just over 26 feet wide and 19 feet long to accommodate two people.
The increase in width is due to the unfurling of its collapsible wings.
The vehicle, which weighs 992 pounds, has a take-off speed of 90 mph and a range of 430 miles as an airplane.
The previous version was the third generation of the craft that was unveiled in 2015.
‘It is now finalized and has been in regular flight-testing program in real flight conditions since October 2014,’ the firm said during a 2015 interview.
Juraj Vaculik, co-founder and CEO of AeroMobil, said it would be on sale in 2017, and that the firm was also developing a self driving (and flying) version – and the recent development shows the firm has kept to its timeline.
‘We got a positive feedback from several experts in avionics, which appreciated design and the technical solution of the process of transformation.
‘The car is constructed to be fueled at regular gas stations using the fuel for Rotax 912 ULS engine.’
AeroMobil unveiled its third prototype to the world at the Pioneers Festival in Austria on October 29th 2015.
However, the design was still not perfect- the wings folded into the back seat behind the driver when in car mode.
The firm also released a video of it in action, driving through city streets then taking to the air.
‘AeroMobil 3 is stylish, comfortable for both the driver and passenger, and exceptionally combines the performance of a sports car with qualities of an ‘ultralight’,’ it said.
Now, the firm believes its latest version will ‘herald a new era in efficient and exciting travel’.
