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IPFS News Link • Transportation: Air Travel

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Flying car to go on sale

• by Milos Krivokapic And Angela Charlton

A Slovakian company called AeroMobil unveiled on Thursday its version of a flying car, a light-framed plane whose wings can fold back, like an insect, and is boosted by a hybrid engine and rear propeller.

It will be available to preorder as soon as this year but is not for everyone: besides the big price tag—between 1.2 million and 1.5 million euros ($1.3 million-$1.6 million)—you'd need a pilot's license to use it in the air.

"I think it's going to be a very niche product," said Philip Mawby, professor of electronic engineering and head of research at the University of Warwick.

Several companies are working on flying cars, either like Aeromobil's two-seater that needs a runway, or others that function more like helicopters, lifting off vertically. But not many companies are seriously looking at marketing these vehicles anytime soon, Mawby said.


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