See a futuristic flying car’s first untethered flight – Big Think

This article was originally published on our sister site, Freethink.

British startup Bellwether Industries has sharedfootageof its futuristic flying car prototypes first untethered test flights bringing the aircraft one step closer to a city skyline near you.

The challenge:Experts predict the worlds population is going to skew more urban in the future, withabout 70%of people living in cities in 2050 compared to 50% today.

If thats the case, surface streets will likely become even more congested than they already are.

More congestion means longer commutes,more traffic accidents, and unless thetransition to electric vehiclesaccelerates more idling cars pumping pollutants into the air.

Bellwethers goal is to have its flying car on the market by 2028.

The idea:Bellwether is one of many companies betting on flying cars as the solution to this problem or at least part of the solution.

Technically, the vehicles theyre developing are called electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles because theyre battery powered and you guessed it take off and land vertically, like helicopters.

Because they dont need a runway,eVTOLscould operate from rooftops, parking garages, or even driveways, carrying people from one part of a city to another without contributing to street trafficoremitting CO2 or harmful air pollutants.

A flying Antelope:Bellwether calls its flying car the volar, and it looks like what youd get if the Batmobile mated with a flying saucer.

On January 12, the company shared a video of a half-scale prototype flying untethered for the first time.

This remote-controlledprototype named Antelope can only hit an altitude of 13 feet and a top speed of 25 miles per hour.

Bellwether says the full-scale volar will seat four or five people, with a top altitude of 3,000 feet, a top speed of 135 mph, and enough battery power for a one-hour flight at max payload.

The big picture:Bellwethers goal is to have its flying car on the market by 2028, and these untethered test flights of a prototype put it closer to reaching that goal but the company still hasa lotof hurdles to surmount.

Even if the full-sized volar flies how the company wants it to, eVTOLs wont be zipping across city skies until regulators can figure out how to certify them and how to manage the airspace the vehicles plan to traverse.

Flying car makers will also need to win over the public to bring their vision of urban transportation to fruition, and no doubt many people will be hesitant to risk their lives in the vehicles initially even if they do look cool and can cut down on commute times.

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See a futuristic flying car's first untethered flight - Big Think