We're seven years past 2015 and we still don't have flying cars. It's been predicted for decades. One company, Klein Vision, out of Slovakia has been building a car that literally transforms into a small aircraft in under 2-minutes.
The "AirCar" was awarded an official Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority after completing 70 hours of "rigorous flight testing," according to Klein Vision, the company behind the "dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle." The test flights — which included more than 200 takeoffs and landings — were compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards.
Klein Vision
The videos they've posted of test flights are impressive. Two things strike me as very cool:
- The craft looks like a car. So many concepts of flying 'cars' look nothing of the sort.
- The car transforms in a short time to fold in its wings and slide the rear section inward, shortening its length.
Video of the certification flight and transforming into a car can be watched below:
This seems cool. However, given how many people drive on the ground, maybe I'll stick with watching this develop from down on the ground.
If you want to see more, here's a video of the AirCar's maiden flight: