Recently, a group of spy photos of Xiaopeng Huitian's flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier" have been widely circulated on social media platforms. A person close to Xiaopeng Huitian confirmed to the Shanghai Securities News reporter that the spy photos of the group are true, and the photos show the chassis testing mule car of the "land aircraft carrier". The land aircraft carrier consists of two parts: a land-based body and a flying body. The land-based body can fully store the flying body inside the vehicle for ground movement, and can automatically separate and combine like Transformers.
At the "Technology Spring Festival Gala" International Consumer Electronics Exhibition (CES) in January 2024, Wang Tan, co-founder and vice president of Xiaopeng Huitian, announced that the split type flying car will start booking in the fourth quarter of 2024 and plans to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025. If successfully implemented, it means that the "land aircraft carrier" will become the world's first mass-produced and delivered split type flying car for individual users.
According to Xiaopeng Huitian's previous disclosure, the "mother ship" of the "land aircraft carrier" carries an intelligent cockpit with 4 to 5 people, which is an extended range electric drive power system that can continuously replenish energy for the aircraft. The "mother ship" has a 6 × 6 drive, which can achieve rear wheel steering and has better load-bearing and off-road performance. The other part of the "land aircraft carrier" is a manned aircraft that can achieve vertical takeoff and landing, with two automatic driving modes: manual and automatic.
Huitian was founded in 2013 and began exploring manned aircraft at the beginning of its entrepreneurship. In 2020, He Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng Automobile jointly invested and controlled Huitian, and Xiaopeng Huitian was officially established. Xiaopeng Huitian is committed to "giving wings to cars" and creating true dual-purpose flying cars for land and air, providing products and solutions for human urban three-dimensional transportation.
At CES, Xiaopeng Huitian's land air integrated flying car was exhibited for the first time. It is reported that in land mode, flight systems such as the arms and rotors can be fully folded and stored inside the vehicle; Through the folding deformation system, the boom can be opened to switch to flight mode, achieving vertical takeoff and landing in an environment where conditions permit, flying over congestion, obstacles, rivers, etc., to meet people's needs for short distance low altitude travel. In addition, the land air integrated flying car also adopts forward-looking "black technology" such as a foldable steering wheel, transparent instrument panel, and transparent cockpit chassis. The intelligent cockpit can freely switch between land mode and flight mode.
Xiaopeng Huitian stated that the practical application of integrated flying cars needs to match the software and hardware construction and application scenario construction of future cities. Therefore, Xiaopeng Huitian will arrange for mass production of this product in the next step. The company first needs to mass produce split type flying cars, namely "land aircraft carriers".
A senior executive of a domestic eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft) company told Shanghai Securities News that in 2024, the domestic eVTOL industry is expected to make significant progress in product research and manufacturing. At present, several eVTOL companies have successively achieved the first flight of prototype aircraft, and will conduct large-scale and long-range test flights in the future. With the collective efforts of the industrial chain, the maturity of eVTOL products is expected to continue to improve.
The executive believes that eVTOL companies will explore commercial operations in certain specific scenarios, such as air tourism, and gradually expand into areas such as emergency rescue and high-dimensional freight in the future. From the perspective of development mode, the large-scale deployment of eVTOL should first be "to G/to B", and then "to C.". It may take about five years for an individual to become a consumer of eVTOL.