The future has arrived. Flying car makes its first real-world flight in Dubai

Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, classic madman inventor Doc Brown declares that “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” as time-traveling DeLorean takes off. flying cars The sky is not filled yet, it is under development. Last week, China’s XPeng X2 successfully conducted the first public flight test of the brand’s two-seater flying car at Gitex Technology Fair in Dubai – and even shares the design of the popular DeLorean gull door.

XPeng X2 shoots vertically from the ground using eight propellers, with no runway required, making it suitable for densely populated urban areas. The car, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric Manufacturers say that it can rise into the air at a rate of two meters per second, and reach speeds of 130 kilometers per hour.

Although the test flight only took 90 seconds, according to Liu Xinyin, chief aviation expert at XPeng Aeroht, the technology is about to be ready for public use, but the regulation of flying cars is still lagging behind.

XPeng intends to work with governments to define a physical regulatory infrastructure for flying cars in urban areas, and Liu believes that people will be able to use flying cars in limited organized spaces in just five years. This is also in line with the Chinese government’s ambitious plans to launch flying taxis by 2025.

And if not already flying My future Enough, XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation – it can be steered manually or used for autonomous driving. “He’s learning to avoid traffic, buildings, and people,” says Liu.

Elements of autonomous driving present further difficulties in terms of regulation, and also jeopardize public acceptance. There are still a lot of people concerned about safety issues related to self-driving cars on the road, not to mention the vehicles rolling over our heads. Still, XPeng says it’s safer for flying cars to be autonomous than for people to drive.

Currently, there are dozens of flying cars in development around the world, and many of them are already flying, such as the inaugural Canadian “BlackFly,” SkyDrive Inc’s SD-03, and Klein Vision’s AirCar prototype — which last year successfully flew a lengthy test flight. 35 minutes between two cities in Slovakia.

Flying cars like the XPeng X2 aren’t just about fulfilling pop culture’s wildest dreams. Proponents say flying cars could revolutionize urban transportation, making roads less congested, making them safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and, in the case of electric vehicles like the XPeng X2, also reducing carbon emissions.