{"id":6559,"date":"2023-07-07T14:42:31","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/?p=6559"},"modified":"2023-07-11T14:52:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T14:52:58","slug":"nations-first-hybrid-drone-passenger-vehicle-receives-faa-approval-for-advanced-flight-and-road-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/nations-first-hybrid-drone-passenger-vehicle-receives-faa-approval-for-advanced-flight-and-road-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Nation&#8217;s First \u201cHybrid\u201d Drone Passenger Vehicle Receives FAA Approval for Advanced Flight and Road Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F1DWApxsKao\" width=\"740\" height=\"415\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><br \/>\nA California-based company has just received FAA approval to begin testing its new passenger drone vehicle in the real world.\u00a0 The company, ALEF, claims it\u2019s the first air taxi company to receive such FAA approval.\u00a0 Big news, right?<\/p>\n<p>Well, not quite.\u00a0 ALEF\u2019s \u201cflying car\u201d isn\u2019t the first passenger drone vehicle to receive a \u201cSpecial Airworthiness Certificate\u201d from the FAA \u2013 or even a COA granting it authority to move beyond in-house laboratory testing into the experimental pilot phase.<\/p>\n<p>Several other air taxi companies \u2013 most recently, the German company Lilium \u2013 have received such FAA approval.\u00a0 And they\u2019re hoping to begin producing the first of their vehicles fairly soon \u2013 as early as 2024 in fact \u2013 a year before ALEF plans to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Why all the fuss?\u00a0 Because, in theory, ALEF\u2019s vehicle is a \u201chybrid.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It not only flies, it can also be driven on the road.\u00a0 And unlike most passenger drones, it actually looks like a car \u2013 with a chassis and four wheels no less.<\/p>\n<p>The clever theory behind the car is that it\u2019s not really an aircraft but a road vehicle \u2014 with wings.\u00a0 ALEF officials say ideally, the car will start out on the road and only become airborne if it encounters too much traffic.\u00a0 Really?<\/p>\n<p>Well, perhaps.\u00a0 But check the specs:\u00a0 ALEF\u2019s \u201ccar\u201d \u2013 which is designated a \u201cslow-moving vehicle\u201d \u2013 is limited to a speed of 25 mph on the road.\u00a0 Which means it\u2019s not fit for highway driving or even for most street driving, except for the city center.\u00a0\u00a0 So, is all this talk of a \u201chybrid\u201d air\/road taxi really just a publicity stunt?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to know.\u00a0 Another \u201cdrive-and-fly\u201d car \u2013 developed by ASKA \u2013 is also in the process of getting its FAA air-worthiness certification.\u00a0 ASKA says its new car is ideal for airport shuttle transportation.\u00a0 It could drive up to planes on a runway and pick up a handful of passengers for a taxi flight back downtown.\u00a0 So maybe there\u2019s a special niche for these vehicles after all.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the rapidly expanding world of \u201cflying cars.\u201d\u00a0 Commercial airlines like Delta and United are beginning to partner with Silicon Valley-based companies like Archer Aviation and Joby and a number of new companies like ALEF and ASKA \u2013 formerly in \u201cstealth\u201d mode \u2013 are suddenly popping up, ready to take on all comers.<\/p>\n<p>And, naturally, each has figured out it needs a clever design \u201cangle\u201d to distinguish itself from the rest.<\/p>\n<p>There may be real money to be made here \u2014 eventually. Morgan Stanley estimates that the air taxi sector could\u00a0 be worth as much as $1.5 trillion by 2035.\u00a0 However, to date, most of the investment capital to support drone taxi prototypes is coming from small venture capitalists.\u00a0 A few corporate giants like Boeing and Mitsubishi, have begun weighing in, which should speed things up, but not everybody\u2019s convinced that air taxis are actually viable commercially, especially given their prohibitive cost (ALEF\u2019s vehicle may sell for $300,000, for example).<\/p>\n<p>And there are A LOT more regulatory hoops to jump through.\u00a0 In the short term, ALEF\u2019s vehicle will need an FAA \u201ctype\u201d certification, which requires a more in-depth review of the vehicle\u2019s safety and fuel use systems.\u00a0\u00a0 That could easily take another year or more.\u00a0 And unlike other air taxis, the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration will also have to approve ALEF\u2019svehicle for road use.<\/p>\n<p>So, you probably won\u2019t see ALEF\u2019s newfangled flying car in the air \u2013 or on the road \u2013 anytime soon.\u00a0 2025?\u00a0 That\u2019s a bold prediction for a company that hasn\u2019t even identified a site for its manufacturing plant yet \u2013 let alone built one.<\/p>\n<p>Rest assured:\u00a0 the race to full-scale commercialization \u2013 with ALEF and a half a dozen others in fierce competition \u2013 is about to get underway.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still not clear who \u2013 if anyone \u2014 will actually make it to the finish line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff A California-based company has just received FAA approval to begin testing its new passenger drone vehicle in the real world.\u00a0 The company, ALEF, claims it\u2019s the first air taxi company to receive such FAA approval.\u00a0 Big news, right? Well, not quite.\u00a0 ALEF\u2019s \u201cflying car\u201d isn\u2019t the first passenger drone vehicle to receive a \u201cSpecial&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/nations-first-hybrid-drone-passenger-vehicle-receives-faa-approval-for-advanced-flight-and-road-testing\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}