China encourages companies to develop flying cars

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On March 28th, China’s Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued a guideline for technology development in the transportation field, encouraging the development of flying cars within the country. 

XPeng's Flying Car; photo credit: XPeng

The guideline pointed out that the R&D of novel transportation equipment is needed. Specifically, the Ministries are pushing forward the exploration of the ultra-high-speed trains, and the development of advanced rail equipment that integrates new energy sources and material structure, and is adaptive to cross-standards. Additionally, relevant parties should develop flying vehicles, and explore the technologies for the integration of aircraft and vehicles, switching freely between flying and grounded driving modes. 

The R&D of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles should be accelerated to reach breakthroughs in key technologies in the efficient and safe pure electric drive, fuel cell batteries, vehicle design, and onboard intelligent perception and control areas. 

Currently, several tech companies are exploring the flying car field, including the Chinese auto startup, XPeng. XPeng’s affiliated company HT Aero has shipped the Voyager X2, its fifth-generation "flying car" to the Netherlands in March. The flying car will debut in Europe soon.