Still think that carmakers committing to ditch ICE engines by 2030 is radical stuff? That’s nothing. Hyundai has re-asserted its commitment to flying cars, claiming they will be a reality in cities around the globe by the end of the decade.
Michael Cole, the Korean carmaker’s chief of European operations, said Hyundai had made “significant investments” in the area of flying cars, and that the company believes “it really is part of the future,” The Guardian reports.
But before you go getting the idea that the next Elantra is going to sprout a set of wings, we should probably clear a couple of things up. First, we’re talking about air taxis, rather than regular passenger cars, at least in the near future. And second, the electric ‘cars’ look more like a cross between helicopters and DJI drones than cars or planes.
But even with those caveats, it’s going to be some achievement if Hyundai pulls it off. Speaking at an industry conference, and presumably with his tongue firmly in his cheek, Cole apparently conceded that “there’s some time before we can really get the off the ground”.
Related: Hyundai Eager To Speed Up Development Of Flying Vehicles
But maybe not that long. “We think that by the latter part of this decade certainly, urban air mobility will offer great opportunity to free up congestion in cities, to help with emissions, whether that’s intra-city mobility in the air or whether it’s been between cities,” The Guardian quotes Cole as saying.
That means Cole’s timeline is slightly more pessimistic than the one laid out by Hyundai North America CEO, Jose Munoz, earlier this year. Munoz claimed the company might be ready for customer flights and early as 2025.
Keen to get a solid start in the urban air mobility market that Morgan Stanley reckons could be worth $1 trillion by 2040, Hyundai pledged to spend $1.5 billion on flying car development over a six-year period starting in 2019. But it’s not the only carmakers in the air race, as Toyota, Daimler and Geely are also investing in the technology.