{"id":20927,"date":"2022-10-25T13:44:29","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane"},"modified":"2022-10-25T13:58:08","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:58:08","slug":"the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane","title":{"rendered":"The flying car that could turn into a biplane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take off. Alef bills its still-in-development electric vehicle, the Model A, as the first true flying car \u2013 a vehicle that it hopes will look like a sleek electric car but be capable of vertical take-off, and able to fly for 110km (68 miles).<\/p>\n

The firm hopes to compete in a market occupied by well-advanced rivals, such as AirCar and the Pal-V gyrocopter that are already flying and driving. But Jim Dukhovny, Alef\u2019s chief executive and co-founder, argues most existing vehicles are not strictly flying cars in his opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cA flying car has to be a car, which means it can drive on a regular street, park in a regular parking space.<\/p>\n

And it also should have vertical take-off,\u201d he told the BBC. \u201cIf you require an airport to take-off, what problem are you solving? And why is this a flying car?\u201d<\/p>\n

Flip to fly The top surface of the Model A\u2019s car-like exterior is a mesh so that air can pass through to eight propellers inside the body which provide lift.<\/p>\n

But flying any distance using these alone, without the assistance of wings, would require prohibitive amounts of power. Alef\u2019s proposed solution is novel \u2013 for longer flights the Model A transforms into a biplane.<\/p>\n

After a vertical lift-off, the Model A will turn onto its side, the two-person cockpit swivels so the driver remains facing forward, and the car becomes a biplane with the long sides of the vehicle forming the top and bottom wings.<\/p>\n

The classic biplane shape, with two wings, one on top of the other, is easier to see in the Model A if you imagine the mesh in-between the solid sides being removed.<\/p>\n

Alef has also produced a video visualising the transition. Forbes observed that the way it would fly resembles the Opener Blackfly, an existing vertical take-off electric aircraft. It\u2019s an ingenious idea, but is it a practical one? Bringing flying and driving together adds weight, electric power also means heavy batteries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe design is right on the ragged edge of what the physics and technology can do, which is where you would expect it to be,\u201d says aeronautical engineer Professor Steve Wright of the University of the West of England.<\/p>\n

The mesh, as visualised, might also cause significant aerodynamic drag, he adds. Alef says it has managed the transition to biplane in \u201cscaled flights\u201d since 2018.<\/p>\n

And it has large prototypes capable of vertical flight \u2013 though they don\u2019t yet resemble the polished appearance of the firm\u2019s mock-ups and concepts. But Prof Wright warns the jump from a prototype to a working product is easily underestimated.<\/p>\n

Technical hurdles are only one obstacle to building highways in the sky busy with flying cars. The regulation and certification of flying cars is likely to be rigorous, time-consuming and expensive, as it is for any aircraft.<\/p>\n

To fly a biplane, even one that you can drive on the roads, will require a pilots licence \u2013 though Mr Dukhovny envisions that for short low-level hops over obstacles using vertical flight, a licence used for drone operators might suffice.<\/p>\n

And authorities are likely to impose strict rules on where vehicles can be flown. \u2018Where we\u2019re going, we don\u2019t need roads\u2019 For these and other reasons, Prof Wright thinks the future of flying cars will not be a single vehicle that consumers own, drive and fly.<\/p>\n

In the film Back to the Future, the character Doc Brown\u2019s fusion-powered DeLorean car leaves the road and swoops into the air. \u201cThat isn\u2019t how mass airborne transport is going to play out, which is a real shame.<\/p>\n

I really want my flying DeLorean as much as anybody does,\u201d Prof Wright says. In reality, travelling by flying car, Prof Wright argues, would be more like hiring a taxi.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou pull out your phone, and a robot car would draw up and it would take you to somewhere the size of a small park and the drone comes down, sets itself down, you jump in there.<\/p>\n

So in other words, you summon a drone taxi. \u201d Many companies are developing autonomous passenger drones. Recently Chinese firm Xpeng gave its first public demonstration of its X2 vehicle in Dubai.<\/p>\n

But Mr Dukhovny strongly believes that the idea of being able to drive and fly in the same vehicle is an attractive one. When I ask him who will pay the Model A\u2019s initial $300,000 (\u00a3266,000) price tag, he says \u201cearly adopters\u201d. He says people have been waiting for a flying car for a 100 years. Alef\u2019s ambitious goal is to start selling vehicles in 2025.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take off. Alef bills its still-in-development electric vehicle, the Model A, as the first true flying car \u2013 a vehicle that it hopes will look like a sleek electric car but be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,246,2101,245],"class_list":["post-20927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-car","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nThe flying car that could turn into a biplane - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The flying car that could turn into a biplane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-25T13:44:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-25T13:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_17-6357eb5a24458.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"976\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"549\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"The flying car that could turn into a biplane\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-25T13:44:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-25T13:58:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\"},\"wordCount\":803,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/10\/postQueueImg_17-6357eb5a24458.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"car\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/the-flying-car-that-could-turn-into-a-biplane\",\"name\":\"The flying car that could turn into a biplane - 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