Under trial status, the first car capable of flying has authoritatively been approved for departure.
Alef Aeronautics revealed this week that the Federal Aviation Administration has granted legal permission for the flying car “Model A” to undergo road and sky trials before it can be made available to the general public.
Alef is the first company to get a Unique Airworthiness Certificate from the FFA, the organization said in a news discharge. The certification places restrictions on where and for what the vehicle can fly.
Before taking off, the vehicle will also need to meet the safety standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
However, the CEO of the company, Jim Dukhovny, claims that the certification “will be our next step.”
According to source on Friday, “The historical significance of this cannot be overstated.” “While there have been pioneers like Terrafugia, Paul Moller, and Henry Ford, this is the first time a vehicle, in the traditional sense (parks and drives like a car, functions like a car, looks like a car), has received permission to fly. It’s also important that Alef is the first electric car which received permission to fly. And, last but not least, the ability for vertical takeoff is central to most people’s conception of a ‘flying car.”
Under the Code of Government Guidelines, Alef is expected to report any issues including glitches or deformities to the U.S. government organization during “Model A” improvement and testing.
Available for preorder
The flying car is now available for preorder, according to a post on the company’s website, which is based in Santa Clara, California. The vehicle, which can only hold one or two people, will fetch around $300,000.
According to the company’s press release, the “Model A” can take off and land vertically and is entirely electric. It can also be driven on public roads.
The car will be a Low Speed Vehicle, which means that on a paved surface, it won’t go faster than about 25 miles per hour. In the event that a driver needs a quicker course, they will actually want to utilize the vehicle’s flight capacities, as per Alef.
Pre-sales were open as of Friday, and interested customers could pay a $150 deposit to be put on the waiting list or $1,500 to get a spot on the list first.
Four years of test flying
The organization, established in 2015 by Dukhovny, Konstantin Kisly, Pavel Markin, Oleg Petrov in Palo Alto, California, has been test driving and flying the vehicle’s model beginning around 2019.
The rendition clients could get has a traveling scope of 200 miles and a flight scope of 110 miles.
The company claims that Marty McFly, a character from “Back to the Future,” traveled to the “future” in October 2015, which influenced the idea to get the vehicle on the road and into the air.
“During one of the Science Fiction lectures, Jim Dukhovny talked about how flying cars are finally possible in 2015,” Alef wrote in a confirmation on its site.
He and his kindred organizers before long met, and the main genuine car capable of flying was attracted on a napkin a bistro, the organization said.
“The constraints were: it has to be a real car (driving in driving lanes, parking in parking spaces), it has to have a vertical takeoff (otherwise it is not a real flying car), it has to be affordable for most people (not just the rich),” Alef said.
The first sub-scale prototype was built the following year, and the first full-size “skeleton” flew in 2018.
Delivery slated to start in late 2025
The company, backed by a Tesla investor, stated that buyers will be able to complete their configuration as production draws near.
The organization said it intends to begin conveying the vehicles to clients by late 2025.