The popularity of flying cars has been skyrocketing recently, and their safety issues have also received much attention.
On March 7th, He Xiaopeng, the chairman of Xiaopeng Motors, revealed in a media interview that he had ridden a flying car before. The company's internal requirements were that before the flying car was sold, all executives who made flying cars must drive 5000 kilometers and fly 5000 kilometers. Only by truly flying can they feel how to ensure safety.
On March 8th, Time Finance sought confirmation from Xiaopeng Motors and Xiaopeng Huitian, and relevant sources claimed that the information was true. "(Yes) Request, we will all fly." On the same day, Qiu Mingquan, Vice President of Xiaopeng Huitian, told Time Weekly reporters, "It depends on the progress of airworthiness. Once we obtain the airworthiness certificate, we can fly."
Except for Xiaopeng Huitian, companies such as Yihang Intelligence, GAC, and Geely's subsidiary Wofei Changkong are all accelerating their layout in the field of flying cars. Regarding its prospects, He Xiaopeng believes that the low altitude economy can account for 10% -20% of the commercial scale of China and even the global automotive industry in the future. This is a huge commercial space, and it is expected that flying cars will gradually move towards personal life in the next five to twenty years, and their scale will continue to grow.
"Flying cars are essentially aircraft, and rooted in the automotive industry, they can indeed make a difference in the low altitude aircraft supply chain." On March 8th, Jiang Wei, a professor at Antai School of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Chief Scientist of Shenzhen Industry Research Institute, and Assistant Dean, believed in an interview with Time Weekly reporters that the key challenges currently facing this field are safety and legal regulations.
Mass production delivery is imminent
Xiaopeng Huitian's flying cars are getting closer to mass production and delivery.
On March 8th, a reporter from Time Weekly learned from Xiaopeng Huitian that on that day, its flying car traveler X2 successfully completed a low altitude flight in the "Tiande Square Guangzhou Tower" area of the urban CBD. During this flight, Traveler X2 took off vertically from the super Grade A office building complex in Tiande Square, Tianhe District, Guangzhou. Using autonomous driving mode, it flew towards the iconic Guangzhou Tower, crossing the landmarks of Guangzhou such as the Guangdong Provincial Museum, Huacheng Square, and Haixinsha Asian Games Park.
According to the data, Xiaopeng Huitian was founded by its founder Zhao Deli in 2013, and was jointly invested and controlled by He Xiaopeng and Xiaopeng Automobile in 2020. At present, Xiaopeng Huitian R&D Center and Flight Test Base are located in Guangzhou, and Flight Automotive Laboratories have been established in Shenzhen, Shanghai and other places.
It is reported that in terms of products, Xiaopeng Huitian currently has two types of flying cars, one is a split type flying car. Due to the coupling of land and flight, they can go through the relevant regulatory processes of vehicle certification and airworthiness certification separately. The other one is a land air integrated flying car, which is more oriented towards future three-dimensional transportation, so it still needs to wait for the application scenarios and policy regulations to gradually mature before mass production and delivery.
In terms of sales schedule, Xiaopeng Huitian revealed that its developed split type flying car will be sold to the public, and reservations will start in the fourth quarter of 2024, with plans to start mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Regarding the internal requirement put forward by He Xiaopeng that "before selling flying cars, all executives who make flying cars must drive 5000 kilometers and fly 5000 kilometers", Qiu Mingquan told Time Weekly reporters that the progress of airworthiness should be seen in the future. Once you obtain the airworthiness certificate, you can fly.
The reporter learned from Xiaopeng Huitian that their products are currently exploring airworthiness certification work. "Because this field and products are very new, we actively cooperate with relevant departments' testing work. In the future, we will only sell them to the public if all qualifications and safety of land travel and flight have been certified and licensed by national regulatory authorities and institutions."
As for the issue of driver's license, Xiaopeng Huitian stated that in the future, a license is definitely needed for real road use. As for what license is needed and how to obtain it, they are also exploring in collaboration with relevant departments. However, its flying car can achieve autonomous driving, which does not require manual operation. After setting the route, it can take off and land with one click and cruise automatically. Even if obtaining a driver's license in the future, it will be much simpler than obtaining a license for helicopters and airplanes now.
The trillion dollar market is about to explode, and the multi problem still needs to be solved
In addition to Xiaopeng Huitian, in recent years, many enterprises including Geely, GAC, and others have accelerated their development on this track.
Among them, Geely entered the market quite early. According to public information, in 2017, Geely fully acquired Terrafugia, an American flying car company, and entered the field of flying cars. In 2020, Geely acquired Sichuan Aoshi Technology Co., Ltd; In the same year, Taili and Aoshi merged to form Wofei Changkong New Company. At the end of 2023, Wofei Changkong completed the first stage test flight of the AE200 airworthiness technology verification aircraft, and at the same time, the airworthiness certification took the lead in entering the third stage - a new stage of compliance plan formulation and approval.
On February 6th this year, GAC Group announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the Guangzhou Airport Economic Zone Management Committee, Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, and Yihang Intelligent Holdings Co., Ltd. All parties will fully leverage their respective advantages, share resources, and work together to create a rich low altitude industry chain ecosystem, jointly promoting Guangzhou to compete in the trillion level low altitude track and helping Guangzhou to develop its low altitude economy with high quality. On the previous 2023 GAC Technology Day, GAC GOVE Flying Automobile achieved its first successful flight.
According to forecasts from consulting firms such as Morgan, Deloitte, and Roland Berger, the global market size of flying cars will reach 300 billion US dollars by 2030, and will exceed 1 trillion US dollars by 2040. By 2050, there may be 98000 flying cars flying in major cities around the world.
However, as a new species, the development of flying cars still faces many difficulties.
On March 8th, a reporter from Time Weekly learned from Xiaopeng Automobile that from an industry perspective, there are difficulties including technology, supply chain, policies and regulations, as well as application scenarios. Among them, in terms of policies and regulations, it is pointed out that the market is still in the zero starting stage, there are no mature product launches, and regulations are also being explored; The difficulties in application scenarios involve user acceptance, airspace management, ground supporting facilities, and ecosystem construction (manufacturers, operators, air service providers, regulators, etc.).
Jiang Wei also told Time Weekly reporters that the key issues that need to be overcome in the field of flying cars are safety and legal regulations. "At present, there has been some legal discussion, and we hope that government departments and industry enterprises can work together to promote the rapid development of the low altitude economy."