The world's first flying electric car took off in Australia ahead of a race series that would involve remotely piloted flying electric cars. This series is planned for later in the year. The flying electric car in question is the Alauda Airspeeder MK3 which is a four metre-long multi-copter. It made its first unmanned flight in the Southern Australian desert with the approval of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority. The Airspeeder MK3 weighs 130 kilograms and has a thrust to weight ratio that exceeds that of a fighter aircraft. The vehicle was bull by Alauda Aeronautics founded by Matthew Pearson. He plans on starting an F1 style series for racing on flying cars. Three races are already scheduled for 2021, though the locations haven't been finalised.
Depending on the conditions, these vehicles will have the ability to fly between 150-250 kmph. The aircraft even has space for a cockpit that could host a human pilot but as of now it is robotically controlled by a "telerobotic avatar". So basically, a robot flies the vehicle.
"We've got a robot in the cockpit, linked up to a pilot on the ground. When the pilot turns their head, the robot turns their head," Pearson told the Guardian.
It is the world's first flying electric car
The broader plan involves having races with human pilots in them. However for that to happen the first three races have to go smoothly which will have the telerobotic avatar manning the vehicles. These flying cars are also equipped with LiDAR and radar systems, tech that's usually found in self-driving cars. They are meant to avoid mid-air collisions, especially during racing.
"Basically, the pilot has complete freedom ... but we can create a virtual force-field between the aircraft in the air, even at really high speeds," Pearson said.
It also gets powered by a lithium-polymer battery with a battery life of about 15 minutes. Each race will last 45 minutes requiring a pitstop for battery swaps which is a 20-second process, something that's not too dissimilar from what happens in F1, where tyres are changed. Many companies are working on flying cars - including start-ups like Kitty Hawk which is backed by Alphabet/Google founder Larry Page and even ride-sharing companies like Uber.
