Despite its technical accuracy, 'vertical take-off and landing' doesn't conjure exciting visions of zero-emission cityscapes. So we'll call it what we all know them to be: flying cars. And carmaker Hyundai told TopGear.com it reckons we’ll see something in the skies by the end of the decade.
"It’s not my division, so that probably tells you that it’s not imminent,” Hyundai’s UK boss Michael Cole told TopGear.com. “But we’ve always said that we really see this as being part of the solution for mobility in the future.”
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He points to work the Korean manufacturer has already done with Coventry City Council and the UK government to launch ‘Air One’ (pictured below). Not a limited edition Nike trainer, but a hub for future VTOL craft – sorry, flying cars – including air taxis and delivery drones that'll transport cargo and humans across cities.
Indeed it’s this that Cole reckons will be the first step. “We could see some intra-city type application with the Urban Air Mobility for cargo, but maybe for passengers. But that’s towards the end of this decade and obviously smaller scale.”
Last year, Hyundai unveiled renders of a battery electric flying car it designed in collaboration with Supernal, a US mobility company Hyundai owns. The concept featured a five-seater cabin and utilised a load of carbon fibre and recyclable CFRP in its construction to keep weight down, too.
At the time Hyundai and Supernal noted how the concept was designed for short urban journeys, with work already having begun on a long-range hydrogen-powered flying car that’ll arrive in the next decade.
Because, as Cole said: “Beyond that, we definitely see this as a viable, additional mobility solution that the Group will offer”.
This story first appeared in TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
