The future of transport? It seems to be heaven: not just jetpacks, personal drones and flying cars that look like they came out of Star Wars, but also cars capable of taking off and mega yachts that transform into airships. In recent months, engineers and designers have presented numerous projects, some more realistic, others decidedly futuristic, but which offer us a taste of how we will move in the coming years.
FLYING CAR
The flying car by Klein Vision is already a reality and ready for large-scale production : last January 22nd the car with wings designed and built by the Slovak engineer Stefan Klein obtained the certificate of fitness to fly from the Authority Slovak for Transport.
Klein’s flying car now has all the credentials to get off the ground and fly like an airplane. Powered by a 1600cc BMW engine, the Klein Vision weighs less than 1,000kg and can accommodate two passengers. In flight it reaches a speed of 300 km / h and has a range of 1,000 km, which makes it the ideal vehicle for short-range travel.
AUTOPILOT
Also because, according to the company, no specific skills are required to fly it: take-off, landing and navigation are managed entirely by the computer. As you can see from the video below, the Klein Vision has excellent maneuverability in flight, and once on the ground it transforms into a sporty coupe with aggressive and pleasant lines.
SCOOTER OR HELICOPTER?
A little further back from the point of view of authorizations is the Liberty project , by the Dutch company Pal-V . Liberty is a three-wheeled vehicle, one front and two rear, which in a few moments can be transformed into a small helicopter. In flight it reaches a speed of 180 km / h and has an autonomy of 4 hours. It weighs only 660 kg and has already obtained homologation for road use, but unlike the Klein Vision, specific training is required to drive it. It is available in two versions, which cost 299,000 and 499,000 euros respectively.
SUPERHERO MOTORCYCLE
And for lovers of two wheels, the flying bike could not be missing: made by the Japanese ALI, Xturismo , it is in fact a large 4-propeller drone that rides like a motorcycle. It weighs about 300 kg and reaches 100 km / h of speed. It is powered by a heat engine and 4 electric motors and has an autonomy of about 40 minutes.
At the moment it is not clear which documents are needed to be able to drive it, because such a vehicle had not yet been built: according to the company’s CEO, the first practical applications of the Xturismo will be to bring aid to areas that are difficult to reach. The price? Just under 600,000 euros for the first models.
AIR AND WATER
The passion for the air has not spared even the nautical world. Lazzarini, a well-known Roman design studio, presented the Air Yacht project, a large luxury boat coupled with two large rigid tanks which, once filled with helium, can make it fly like an airship. The structure, entirely in carbon fiber, is 150 meters long and 80 wide. The central deck, the habitable one, is about 100 meters long and 10 meters wide. According to the designers, the craft can fly for 48 hours at a maximum speed of 110 km. times pushed by 8 electric motors.
Air Yacht features five passenger suites, panoramic windows and a small helicopter parked on top of the facility. The cost is unknown, but experts say it could be so high that they can’t make this project a reality.