“Everyone here can be a pilot,” Deli Zhao, founder and president of Aridge, said.
The modular two-part flying car system was presented by Zhao at Web Summit in Lisbon on Tuesday, CNET reported. The vehicle pairs a 5.5-meter-long ground van mothership with an oversized drone cabin featuring six foldable rotors.
“Dreams are very important,” Zhao said, as a video of him flying the eVTOL played on a screen in the background.
The ground vehicle can be driven with a standard license and fits in most parking spaces while storing, carrying, and deploying the aircraft. The eVTOL can fly as high as a helicopter for 30 kilometers, roughly 19 miles, and features a joystick alongside an autonomous flight mode.
Xpeng has established the world’s first mass-production factory for flying cars in Guangzhou, where trial production began in November last year. The company is currently ramping up capacity and improving quality with the aim of building a flying car in 30 minutes.
The Land Aircraft Carrier will cost $300,000 for buyers with spare funds. Xpeng reported that it has already taken 17,000 orders for the vehicle across China, the UAE, and other Asian markets, with the vast majority coming from individual buyers.
The vehicle is also designed for use in tourism and search and rescue operations. Zhao said that the system solves storage, recharging, transportation, and ease-of-use problems simultaneously.
Acquiring a sport pilot license to fly the eVTOL normally takes around 20 to 30 hours of training. In China, Zhao is currently in conversation with the regulator to reduce this requirement based on the vehicle’s ease of use.
The Land Aircraft Carrier has gone through extensive safety testing in China and will likely take to the skies first as a consumer-owned product as soon as next summer. Growing the low-altitude economy remains national policy in the country despite calls for more regulation following a deadly crash in Beijing this summer.
Xpeng is also eyeing the European market, though the regulatory hurdles are expected to be substantial. The company will start exploring certification in the US next year, with actual progress depending on those outcomes.
