It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and it’s not Superman. People who look up at the sky in Dubai from 2027 onwards will be looking directly into the future. That future we were always promised, where there would be flying cars, and not the one we live in today, where we have to scan our own supermarket shopping at self-checkouts. The flying taxi from the company XPeng is passing all the tests. So much so that sources such as Euronews are already suggesting that they could receive their licence to operate in Dubai in 2027.
It’s not a helicopter, but it looks like one
Forget everything you know about science fiction. The flying car that has made it to the present day has little to do with what we’ve seen in the movies. The eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) is not shaped like a car, but like a helicopter. If you’ve played Cyberpunk 2077, think of them as similar to the AVs that fly through the skies of Night City, but smaller, as they only have two seats.
The company that has taken the lead in this field is XPeng through its AeroHT division. Its Land Aircraft Carrier model performed a demonstration in the United Arab Emirates on 12 October, and everything went according to plan. The eVTOL, which in this case was manned, took off vertically, flew along the coast and returned to its starting point.
But what is fascinating about this new product is that it is not just a flying car. The flying device does not need any kind of helipad, as it works with a 6-wheel land vehicle that is quite reminiscent of the Tesla Cybertruck. This vehicle acts as the Air Module’s ‘mothership’. Upon landing, the eVTOL will recharge and can be moved directly by road if needed, with the battery charged in another part of the city. The combination of the air module and the land vehicle is what the Chinese brand has dubbed the Land Aircraft Carrier.
The ultimate solution to end traffic jams?
Michael Du, CFO and Vice President of Xpeng AeroHT, says this product will revolutionise the way we travel around cities. During product development, he acknowledges that they have conducted more than 5,000 test flights in all kinds of extreme conditions, such as heat, sub-zero cold and high altitudes. In these tests, 200 Land Aircraft Carrier units have been used.
The challenge for the Chinese company comes right now. The exhibition has resulted in 600 orders for their new aircraft.
According to Du, Dubai will have its first Land Aircraft Carriers in operation from 2027. The real challenge no longer depends on them, but on the airspace of each city where XPeng wants to operate this device. In line with this, Ali Ahmad Al Blooshi, an expert in civil aviation in Dubai, told Euronews that they have had to imagine the city’s airspace as if it were a road. After all, the idea is not to rely on air traffic controllers to operate these devices, which, let us remember, also have the capacity to operate autonomously without a pilot.
The XPeng executive may not be exaggerating when he says that the Land Aircraft Carrier could change the future of cities. It should be remembered that cities like Los Angeles have been struggling for years to solve the problem of traffic jams. eVTOLs could solve part of that congestion. Although the city would also lose some of its charm. After all, who doesn’t love that iconic opening scene from La La Land? Will it be the same without road rage during its daily traffic jams?