Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng is aiming to have its Aeroht modular flying car enter series production in 2026, which would make it the first company to globally mass produce and deliver such vehicles, its chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said.
The vehicle is a two-seat passenger drone that works in combination with a six-wheeled, four-seater “land aircraft carrier,” which can store and charge the drone in its rear boot. Users will be able to drive themselves to a take-off site, detach the drone through a fully automated process, hop into it and complete the rest of their journey by air.
This will not just reduce travel time but also allow users improved access to remote areas. The system, which is priced at no more than two million yuan (RM1.21 million), made its first public flight at the Zhuhai Airshow last November, and has reportedly received some 3,000 orders, the Straits Times reports.
Having broken ground on the factory that will build the vehicle last October, the company is hoping to begin mass production in the second quarter of 2026 and commence some deliveries thereafter, He told the publication. The facility will have the ability to produce 10,000 flying cars a year.
However, He added that the road to full-scale take-up of flying cars was still relatively long, and one of the biggest difficulties is getting the necessary policies, laws and regulations in place.
“Right now, I see many problems,” he said.
Issues include gaining the necessary official certifications for the flying car both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft and defining rules governing how such vehicles should lift off. Additionally, there is the matter of licencing who could pilot it.
Given the lack of defined clarity at this stage, he said that it is likely that the first batch of flying cars will probably be limited to flying shorter distances and be used mainly for tourism or short-haul rescue missions.
In order to support the industry, He called for the development of infrastructure, such as take-off and landing points for the cars, to be accelerated, and added that the opening up of more airspace resources would be needed.
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