People have been fiddling with the idea of flying cars for a long time now. Though companies have made working prototypes, none were successful enough to make it into production.
Also, over the years many Hollywood movies have also fuelled the desire to make flying cars and this arguably has inspired numerous start-up companies around the globe to develop flying cars.
Now, a Tuscany-based startup ‘Jetson Aero’ has successfully developed and launched the Jetson One “flying car” for $98,000 (Approximately Rs 80.20 lakh). In fact, a customer can bring home this flying car by paying a down payment of $8,000 (Approximately Rs 6.53 lakh).
Technically, the Jetson One is classified as an electrical vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL), which means that the Jetson One uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically.
Since the Jetson One is classified as eVTOL, it conforms to US Federal Aviation Administration regulations for ultralight vehicles. As such, piloting the Jetson One does not require a pilot license. It is also worth mentioning that the above classification and rules are only applicable in the US.
According to Jetson Aero, the Jetson One eVTOL features a roll-caged cockpit with plenty of carbon fibre bits to keep the weight as low as possible. In fact, the Jetson Aero weighs less than a large adult at 86 kilogrammes.
In addition to that, the Jetson ONE is powered by an 88-kilowatt battery pack and 8 electric motors that drive an equal number of propellers. This setup gives the Jetson One a flight time of 20 minutes (32km) with a topspeed of 102km/h at heights up to 1,500 feet.
The company also claims that the Jetson One is very easy to fly with just two joysticks to control the machine. The first joystick is used to control the height, whereas the other joystick is used to control direction. Additionally, the Jetson One also features a highly-automated software system.
The Jetson ONE is neither a fixed-wing aeroplane nor a helicopter. As such, the model is very hard to be categorised in India. As a result, the Jetson ONE sits in the grey area in terms of applicable rules and regulations in the country.
However, we expect other companies to come with eVTOLs in the near future and hopefully, concerning rules can be changed to accommodate a whole new classification of personalised flying vehicles.
