1) BMW Skai
BMW’s Designworks division had a hand in developing Skai, a four-passenger electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft. Hydrogen-powered, with six electric motors on each rotor, and a top speed of 190kph, it’ll go for 644km and cut travel time to mere minutes, claims creator Alaka’i Technologies. Easily done when the traffic congestion is down there and not upwards, right?
There’s also a three-layer safety system, so Skai can fly if one motor glitches and land safely if two go into limp mode, or deploy its own parachute for immediate landing if all else fails. Good to know.
2) Honda’s eVTOL aircraft
Honda is developing a hybrid eVTOL using its Formula 1 regen know-how and aero engine—the latter the same one powering the HondaJet. The electrified gas-turbine power unit features 10 rotors and is capable of around 402km. One day, Honda thinks it could cut an intercity journey from five hours by car to just over 2.5 hours by air. Works for us.
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3) Hyundai Supernal S-A2
The Supernal SA-2, which debuted at CES 2024, features eight all-tilting rotors ready to lift or thrust at any given moment, a V-tail designed to cruise at 193kph for trips up to 64km, and a claim that it’ll be as quiet as a dishwasher. Presumably true when the cooks and chefs aren’t singing. Hyundai design chief Luc Donckerwolke says “it’s the true representation of auto meets aero.”
4) Porsche’s collab with Boeing
In 2019, Porsche collaborated with Boeing to create an unnamed super-cool concept. The hope was to create a two-passenger fuselage that was either autonomously piloted or able to go into manual mode if one passenger was suitably certified. It was constructed using carbon fiber, and shaped like Batman’s weekend jet.
It could also feature a fast-charging battery pack, bendable wings, and tilt-action on the ducted fans so they could lift or thrust. There were murmurings of a prototype back then, but six years on, no update has been suitably forthcoming. Maybe Batman’s having too much fun in it.
5) The Midnight built by Archer, manufactured by Stellantis
Stellantis has given $150 million (around P8.7 billion) to Archer Aviation in return for exclusive rights to manufacture Midnight, its all-electric eVTOL. Archer says the Midnight is focused on taking folks around cities rather than longer distances. As such, this aircraft’s battery only goes for about 160km. We’re also told production at a rate of two Midnights per month is to begin imminently, with a two-a-day target by 2030.
6) Suzuki SkyDrive
SkyDrive is Suzuki’s flying car project, an all-electric craft with 12 motor-rotor units, space for two passengers and a pilot, and a range of about 40km. It’ll debut in Osaka later this year, with a top speed of 100kph. That’s double the speed of the SkyDrive SD-01 uncrewed demonstrator launched over a decade ago. By 2035? Who knows.
7) Toyota Joby eVTOL
Joby Aviation’s eVTOL was made with £300 million (roughly P21.6 billion) from Toyota to help pass regulatory testing and actually build the thing. It travels at airspeeds of up to 330kph, and has already completed three of the five stages of certification needed by the folks that police the skies. With the 330kph achievement unlocked, Joby’s next ambition is to reach an altitude of 10,000ft. The air-taxi company also says that stage-four certification is also half-done. Could quieter, zero-emissions air travel be closer than we think?
8) Xpeng AeroHT eVTOL
The Xpeng AeroHT craft is a human-carrying drone. Showing its futuristic tech stripes at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, it comes with its very own land aircraft carrier. It’s also very close to getting regulatory approval in China, where folks will be able to drive their vehicle to a ‘Flying Camp,’ then deploy, board, and cruise about in unrestricted airspace. Xpeng hopes to create more than 200 camps with their own landing platforms, which is just as well because pre-orders for the combo are around 3,000 at last check.
NOTE: This story first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
