Are Flying Cars The Future? This One Was Just Cleared For Takeoff

After passing over 200 takeoffs and landings in 70 hours of tests compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, the AirCar by Klein Vision has received a certificate of airworthiness for takeoff by the Slovak Transport Authority.

The car transforms into a plane in minutes and Klein Vision hopes to roll out production within a year, according to the Independent. Klein Vision says it took experts 100,000 hours to convert designs into the two-seated AirCar.

A 1.6L BMW engine powers the flying vehicle. The car completed an intercity test flight in Slovakia. Users of the car will have to be approved pilots to use it.

“[The] Transportation Authority carefully monitored all stages of unique AirCar development from its start in 2017. AirCar combines top innovations with safety measures in line with EASA standards. Its certification was both a challenging and fascinating task,” René Molnár, the director of the Civil Aviation Division at Slovakia’s Transport Authority, said of the vehicle, according to the Independent.

The chair of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Airworthiness & Maintenance Specialist Group, Kyriakos Kourousis, told CNN, “This is not the first time that similar types of vehicles have been certified.”

PAL-V Liberty in the Netherlands and Terrafugia in the U.S. are companies that have created similar vehicles. Terrafugia received an FAA Special Light-Sport Aircraft airworthiness certificate. PAL-V Liberty has yet to complete a final “compliance demonstration.”

Kourousis also said that this approval will create progress and opportunities for employment in the technology and vehicle sectors. He also said that hybrid or electric models like the AirCar could signal a significant environmental impact for the future, that they could one day replace helicopters.