CLEARLAKE >> A brief flight just above the surface suits the first flight of a craft from Kitty Hawk, at least from a historical perspective.
The Silicon Valley start up company Kitty Hawk recently tested a what they referred to as a flying car over the waters of Clear Lake. The small aircraft — which appeared to be a cross between drone and jet ski in design — cruised cautiously barely 15 feet above the surface, never straying far from shore.
The entire flight lasted approximately five minutes.
According to the New York Times, the single pilot craft drew power from eight batteries, each attached to a propeller producing enough thrust to lift a its 220-pound frame and a pilot from the surface, as well as a lot of noise. In place of a steering wheel the pilot operated two joysticks.
The Kitty Hawk Flyer, as it was dubbed, has no wheels. Instead, it floats on twin pontoons. The Federal Aviation Administration reportedly approved the concept craft under the ultralight aircraft category. According to the New York Times, the company decided to operate over water in a remote area.
Kitty Hawk is a start up backed by Google founder Larry Page. The flying vehicle under development by the company is said to be on target for sale to the public by the end of this year.
The Kitty Hawk Flyer is just one of many projects hoping to make daily community travel by air a reality. A division of Kitty Hawk — Zee Aero — was rumored in 2013 to be developing a small air taxi.
Airbus has said it’s working on a vehicle. Massachusetts-based Terrafugia plans to start shipping a flying car in two years and Slovakia-based AeroMobil on Thursday starting taking pre-orders for a $1 million vehicle. And some companies are looking into further disrupting the transportation industry by adding self-driving technology to their airborne cars.
Uber plans to demo its first flying cars in U.S. cities by 2020, the ride-hailing company said Tuesday, moving one step closer to a future where workers take to the air for their daily commutes.
The first places to get a glimpse of the futuristic vehicles will be the Dallas—Fort Worth area, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates — both within three years, the company said during the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas. Uber hopes to conduct passengers flights at the World Expo in Dubai in 2020.
“Flying cars have been promised for decades, but are arriving now. So we actually get to live in this era of flying cars,” Jeff Holden, Uber’s chief product officer, said during the conference’s opening keynote Tuesday morning, which was livestreamed online. “We have a lot of work to do, though. This isn’t going to be easy.”
Uber, which has said it won’t build the flying cars itself, also revealed partnerships with several aircraft manufacturers that are working on VTOL — vertical take-off and landing aircraft — technology. Together, they plan to create what Uber has dubbed the Uber Elevate Network.
The ride-hailing startup has teamed up with Aurora Flight Sciences, Pipistrel Aircraft, Embraer, Mooney and Bell Helicopter. Uber also will work with ChargePoint to create a VTOL charger exclusively for electric flying cars.
While the recent successful test flight over Clear Lake has generated global attention, the company has cautioned that any finished product would be different in appearance from the prototype.
Marisa Kendall of the San Jose Mercury News contributed to this report
