If Silicon Valley wants you to think that self-driving cars are the future then a startup based in Slovakia wants to prove them wrong. AeroMobil, the startup in question, unveiled a flying car at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna. Its not a concept, mockup or model. Its an actual flying car that can take to the skies like it can take to the roads.
Called the AeroMobil 3.0 this is actually the third iteration of this particular flying car which has been in development for over two decades. CEO of AeroMobil, Juraj Vaculik, said that the startup believes “personal transportation is about to change forever.”
Stefan Klein, who is the founder and head of the Department of Transport Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Slovakia, designed the device and has been tinkering with the idea of a flying car in one form or another since 1989. Back in 2010 he and Vaculik joined forces and created AeroMobil.
They say that the AeroMobil 3.0 is close to being commercially available. It requires very little runway to take off and can be filled up at any conventional gas station as long as the wings are retracted. It can carry two people in the cockpit and comes with autopilot and an advanced parachute deployment system.
Built out of advanced composite materials that make it durable and light, the AeroMobil 3.0 can reach speeds of up to 200 km/h when its in the air. The startup has not revealed as yet how much this flying car will cost when it is put up for sale.