A Chinese company bought the rights to the technologies of the Slovak flying car AirCar

The information came from the server of the British news television BBC, which refers to the announcement of the co-founder of KleinVision, Anton Zajac, whose company created AirCar. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AirCar, powered by a BMW engine and regular fuel, made a 35-minute long flight between two Slovakian airports in 2021. It used runways and runways for takeoff and landing, with the conversion of a car into an airplane taking over two minutes.

In 2022, the AirCar received an airworthiness certificate from the Slovak Transport Authority and appeared in a video published by the popular YouTuber Mr Beast last year.

Slovak flying car has received permission, production can begin

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From electric cars to flying cars

China has already been at the forefront of electric car development and is now actively developing solutions for flying transportation. In February, the local company Autoflight conducted a test flight of a drone to transport passengers between the cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai. A trip that takes three hours by car took the drone 20 minutes. However, the plane was without passengers.

Last year, Chinese company eHang received a safety certificate from Chinese officials for its electric flying taxi. However, unlike drone-like aircraft, the AirCar does not take off and land vertically and needs a runway.

Photo: Klein Vision

There are still significant barriers to this form of transportation in terms of infrastructure, regulation and public acceptance of the technology. Worldwide attempts to regulate this industry have rather brought a number of new questions.

“In that respect, the history of the West can slow things down because there is a bit of a temptation to try to squeeze these new machines into old categories,” aviation industry consultant Steve Wright told the BBC. “China could see this as an opportunity to get ahead,” he added.

Similar concerns once concerned electric cars, for which China has become the world market leader. The sale of Slovakia’s AirCar technology could raise questions about whether China is about to do the same with flying cars.