Author: Robby Berman / Source: Big Think
- A Larry Page-backed company has announced that its flying car will go on sale in 2019.
- It’s called the BlackFly.
- Not quite the escape from traffic you had in mind, but it’s a jaw-dropping start.
Hey, it’s the future. We’re supposed to have flying cars, right?
Well, here’s your flying car, sort of and again. It’s slated to go on sale in 2019. It’s called the BlackFly and the company manufacturing it, Opener, is backed at least partially by Alphabet’s Larry Page, who’s been rumored to have been tinkering with such craft for a while, working with a few partners. Alan Eustace, who’s been on Big Think, is an Opener technical advisor.BlackFly isn’t really much of a car-car. It can only travel on roads when it’s being carried by its pair of carts, so your seamless, cruise-down-from-the-sky-and-onto-the-road vehicle hasn’t quite arrived yet. And you’ll be driving BlackFly solo—it holds just one person of up to 6.5 feet in height and weighing in a 250 lbs. But still, wow.
BlackFly in the sky
Here’s the official launch video. Imagine seeing this while out on a hike.
As you might expect, where the strikingly futuristic, all-electric BlackFly shines is in the air. It can take off and land vertically (VTOL), and travel at a speed of 62 mph. It has a range of about 25 miles before its onboard battery needs to be recharged much like an electric car. With a rounded bottom, it sort of rocks itself into position as it lands.
Both its speed and range are limited by U.
S. FAA regulations. It can go faster and farther in Canada, for example. (More on…The post BlackFly ‘flying car’ to hit the market in 2019 for the price of an SUV appeared first on FeedBox.