Until now, the Flying cars they have belonged, above all, to the world of science fiction, appearing in the most diverse films and series and feeding the dream that one day it will be possible to take off in a line of traffic and simply fly out of there. However, the transition from dream to reality may be closer than we imagine.
We tell you this because in the last few weeks two brands have presented plans to develop flying car projects. The first was Hyundai, which created the Urban Air Mobility Division putting at the head of this new division Jaiwon Shin, a former director of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD).
Created with the aim of reducing the congestion created by what Hyundai defines as “mega-urbanizations”, this division has (for now) modest goals, stating only that “it intends to offer innovative mobility solutions that have never been seen or thought of before”.
With the Urban Air Mobility Division, Hyundai became the first car brand to create a division specifically dedicated to developing flying cars, as the other brands have always invested in partnerships.
Porsche also wants to fly…
Speaking of partnerships, the most recent in the field of flying cars brought together Porsche and Boeing. Together, they intend to explore the feasibility of urban air travel and to do so will create a prototype of an electric flying car.
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Developed jointly by engineers from Porsche and Boeing, the prototype does not yet have a scheduled presentation date. In addition to this prototype, the two companies will also create a team to explore the feasibility of urban air travel, including the potential of the premium flying car market.
This partnership comes after a study carried out by Porsche Consulting in 2018 concluded that the urban area mobility market should start to grow from 2025 onwards.
…but Audi might not
While Hyundai and Porsche seem committed to creating flying cars (or at least studying their feasibility), Audi, it seems, has changed its mind. Not only has it suspended the development of its flying taxi, it is also re-evaluating the partnership it has with Airbus for the development of flying cars.
According to Audi, the brand is "working in a new direction for urban air mobility activities and no decisions have yet been made on possible future products".
Developed by Italdesign (which is a subsidiary of Audi) in conjunction with Airbus, the Pop.Up prototype, which was betting on a flight module that was attached to the roof of the car, thus remains on the ground.
For Audi, “it will take a long time for an air taxi to be mass produced and not require passengers to change vehicles. In the modular concept of Pop.Up, we were working on a solution with great complexity”.