It would appear flying cars are the next big thing to follow autonomous driving, with companies such as Airbus and Uber making public their intentions to develop in that area. Start-up company Terrafugia has been acquired by Geely (who also recently bought a 49.9% equity stake in Malaysian automaker Proton), according to a report by The Detroit Bureau.
Founded by a group of MIT graduates, Terrafugia is perhaps the furthest along in their development of flying cars, with its model the Transition having received certification last year from the Federal Aviation Administration. “Don’t think of it as a car that flies. Think of it as a plane that drives,” said Carl Dietrich, CEO of Terrafugia at the Transition’s launch in 2012; its base price was estimated at $279,000 then.
Currently, the Transition is powered by Rotax piston engines, though Terrafugia is considering a change to electric motors as part of a hybrid powertrain. According to Terrfugia, the Transition is able to fly at a cruising speed of around 160 km/h, with a ceiling of 10,000 feet, and a maximum range of about 640 km.
More recently, the company showed off the design for its next model, the TF-X. Capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), it has sleeker, more car-like styling, and twin electric motors that will provide at least one megawatt (1,341 hp) of power. Together with the 300 hp petrol engine, they should provide enough thrust to propel the TF-X to a cruising speed of 322 km/h at attitude.
There are other companies with flying cars in their pipelines as well, notably Aeromobil with an aircraft that will do 160 km/h with a range of 695 km on the ground, or 745 km in the air with a maximum speed of 357 km/h. Google co-founder Larry Page has also been said to have invested in flying cars, with over US$100 million invested into two such ventures. Toyota also has patents for a shapeshifting, flying car design.
GALLERY: Terrafugia TF-X
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soon Proton can fly… cukur!!!
Mamakthir, anak anda dapat terbang!!!
Fly high, power window jammed!
Asal rear axle jgn jatuh atas org sudah ok
Ajib needs one after loosing GE 14.
Brilliant. We own the future, full stop. – Faiz Roslan CEng
Noone dares to wind down window when fly! So why..
Proton SUV only coming in 2 years time. From now to 730 days…..dig for more money from gomen
Unless they come up with “air roads/lanes”, it will be chaos.
no worries.we will have numbers of floating solar powered AES.
Meanwhile P1 cars fire-resistant.
Sudah basi story
Geely does not need to buy a Flying Car company. It has already bought a flying car company with Proton.
Cause, once you buy Proton, you will see your money FLY away magically. Only car company in the world where 1 nut or bolt can cost RM100 when even BMW AG or Mercedes AG buys their nut and bolt for few cents.
Geely will soon see, their money disappearing and flying.
At least it does not kill pipu with fatal airbags
Geely sudah naik gila
cant wait to see Proton Wau first flying car in S.E.A
inb4 flying P1, meanwhile P2 dinosars roam the land
yeah, lotus will have flying esprit in future haha, may be proton own flying car haha?
Flying car no need power window so don’t worry rosak or warranty 10 years.
YES! Proton rama-rama.
Good company do posses great vision. Not counting on a flying Volvo soon though.
So we can have flying Persona in 2 years time.
soon in 30 years u will see proton saga flying.. if Geely still own Poton at that time. Lol
Next time we could have flying Proton..
Pfft! godcar flying since 2002, mivi flying since 2005
Soon… Proton cars can fly… just soon…
Dari hari pertama rumor kata Proton nak berkerjasama dgn Geely, saya dah sokong sepenuhnya tentang perkara ni. Proton bagaikan anak org kaya, dan tak lama lagi… Jernama yg menjadi kebanggaan setiap rakyat Malaysia ini akan mencipta sejarah sebagai kereta pertama yg boleh terbang di atas langit. Proton boleh! Malaysia boleh!
Mimpi lah kau. Angan- angan Mat Jenin.
That’s some good weed you’re smokin
In Malaysia we already have flying cars before. Have you guys forgot about flying vios & myvis a few years back?
Ok sound good for P1. This time i hope proton flying car will come complete spec wif 18 airbags, abs, aeb, bas, vsc, esc, fcw, acc, tc, and so on…..lolz.
But Proton Saga/Isawara has been famously known to be flying since the late 80’s when the go over the 110km/h speed limit.
Why is China so slow?
Meanwhile newer p1 cars are famously known by its superb handling unlike sampan handling jepunis cars
Proton Gagak Di Rimba. Proton Merpati Aeroback. Proton Burung Ayam-Ayam ( for those who prefer to stay on land)
With this news, proton clowns must be thinking now they can diri sama tinggi with Tesla and boston dynamic.
This flying car company shows more potential than Proton.
Kudos Geely for having the foresight.
(Note: Chinese = people born in China, Malaysian = people born in Malaysia)
The way Geely is buying companies with the massive ultra-cheap loans is very disruptive. I’m wondering how are they going to sustain them now the Chinese gov is locking the money down in China.
At the same time I’m wondering if it’ll cause over-valuation just like what the Chinese did to our M’sian and the rest of the world’s property market. What happened was banks in China allowed ultra-low rate loans and their gov allowed the money to leave the country. This allowed the chinese to borrow in china and purchase malaysian properties then later resold as investments. Just like the forest city project where more than half the owners is chinese and have no intention to live in malaysia.