In recent years people have slowed down on expecting flying cars, as it seems that segment of the mobility industry is moving towards VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicles that don't have wheels.
Chinese automaker GAC, however, has a novel concept that is sort of a flying car. Their GOVE concept looks incredibly ungainly:
The strange form makes a little more sense once the concept is explained. The idea is that you're driving down the road, and can spontaneously do this:
The thinking is that after you lift off, the autonomous chassis drives itself to a charging station to top off, then reunites with you further down the road.
It's a super strange concept that raises all sorts of practical issues, but it is nice to see a major Chinese manufacturer—GAC is one of that country's largest—demonstrating outside-of-the-box thinking in the concept space, rather than following trends. (In contrast, the ground-based models the company currently sells are pretty derivative.)
Full concept video below.
Enter a caption (optional)
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.
Comments
I wish they’d stop with the vertical flight & flying car non-sense. It’s a woefully inefficient form of mobility of dubious safety. In event of a power plant failure, airplanes can glide, helicopters can autorotate. These things look like they turn into excavators. They’ve been trying since1949; Molt Taylor’s “Aerocar”. Production of 6 vehicles.
Gotta give credit to AI spam, it's sure made "the flying car is the future!" cycle a lot shorter.
>" In event of a power plant failure, airplanes can glide, helicopters can autorotate"