The first deliveries of the first flying car.

It was designed to be a flying car.

For decades, flying cars were treated as an eternal promise of science fiction, always 20 years away, always tied to concepts, renders and prototypes that never made it to the streets, but now something has changed.

The person responsible is the North American Alef Aeronautics, a technology company that began to officially manufacture its electric vehicle capable of driving on public roads and taking off vertically without the need for runways, airports or vertiports. According to the company, the first models are already being assembled manually and will be delivered to a restricted group of initial customers for testing in real conditions, although rigorously controlled.

The project did not come out of nowhere, Alef Aeronautics spent more than a decade developing the technology, in 2016 it presented its first functional prototype, in 2018 it carried out full-size test flights and in 2023 it obtained an airworthiness certification from the FAA, the United States aviation agency.

In an official statement, they stated that production began on schedule and that the team worked intensely because they knew that people were waiting. In February, the company released images of the flying car performing successful flights in an urban environment, something rare even in these types of projects.

The difference of Alef Aeronautics is precisely there, unlike electric air taxis that need specific infrastructure, the company's vehicle was intended to be legally a car and functionally an aircraft, it circulates on common streets, parks like any car and when necessary it takes off vertically, according to Alef Aeronautics that is not why the model A is treated as a real flying car and not just as a disguised electric helicopter.

Unique Features

It does not have retractable wings, it does not require runways, but depends on specific urban Hubs, everything happens within the already existing infrastructure of the cities. Alef Aeronautics Model A is fully electric and promises up to 354 km of autonomy while taxiing on the ground and a modest 177 km in flight, enough to cross large urban areas.

Everything is powered by a distributed electric propulsion system with closed propellers, elevons and a gimbal suspension cabin that maintains stability even during flight.

The initial production is being carried out in an almost artisanal way, each vehicle takes months to be completed, combining industrial processes, robotics and manual assembly. The idea is to use this first batch to refine manufacturing methods before moving towards more automated large-scale production.

Even so, the demand already exists, Alef Aeronautics has received 3,500 orders totaling nearly 1 billion dollars, an expressive number for a vehicle that has not even officially reached the market yet. In terms of safety, Alef Aeronautics claims that the vehicle includes multi-layer redundancy, real-time diagnostics, obstacle avoidance, planned landing and even a ballistic parachute, a common feature in light aircraft, but rare in urban projects.

The current price of mode A is 300,000 and the first buyers will go through specific training, technical support and continuous support from the company, and then, is it now coming off paper?