THIS is the world’s weirdest flying car that comes in two parts, perfect for flying away from traffic jams as the car takes itself home.
The “GOVE” from Guangzhou Automobile Group was unveiled at an air show in China, and comes as a car with a fully detachable flying pod on top.
Bizarre social media footage shows the real-life prototype, a clunky looking drone sat atop of a sleek-looking sportscar.
The car was shown off at the Zhuhai Airshow on November 12.
The car can be seen casually driving on a runaway, which looks cool until you glance up to see the pod mashed on top.
Even more baffling concept footage shows a passenger sitting in the drone, before spreading the wings and flying away.
The propeller arms fold inward and then will extend for flight mode.
Meanwhile, the abandoned “chassis” autonomously drives itself to the nearest charging station, that haven’t even been built yet.
The car then meets up with you further down the road, unless the pod possibly runs out of charge, sending the passenger plummeting to their death.
The impractical-looking vehicle seats two, with a maximum weight of 500kg and a maximum cursing speed of 80mph.
More ambitious is the maximum flight range of 200km and a maximum altitude of 3000 metres.
This is roughly ten-times lower than the minimum average altitude for airplanes.
The aircraft pod has 12 propellers, 12 electric motors and batteries for its power source.
Sources have formally called the flying car a “eVTOL aircraft”, standing for electric vertical takeoff and landing.
The company foresees building many charging station to support this network powered by solar panels.
What happens if the solar panels don’t get enough sunlight is another question.
There appear to be several gaps in logic that are not addressed in the advertising.
Just some of these include: what happens if there are no more charging stations?
Is this practical for road use?
What happens if the car runs into road trouble itself?
THE idea of the flying car has been associated with what the future will look like for a long time, but there are reasons they aren't more common.
One of the main problems that comes with flying cars is the element of safety.
As seen in the GOVE footage, technology companies are yet to fully harness the technology so it can be used safely and confidently.
The second prevalent issue is logistics.
If transport networks are barely funding enough charging stations for electric cars, flying cars adds a whole new problem.
Flying cars are also highly unpredictable, although on paper they might sound like a fun idea.
The automobile industry is constantly looking for ways to innovate, but it seems we might have hit a technological ceiling at this point.
Until we can confidently manufacture this type of technology, it seems cars are destined to stay grounded for the time being.
Despite this potential problems, social media reactions to the X footage have been largely positive.
One comment read: “Pretty amazing!!”
Another said: “Pretty cool.”
The video shared to the social media platform currently has nearly 3,500 views.
GOVE stands for Guangzhou Automobile Group on-the-go vertical flight electric vehicle.
Founded in 1995, the Guangzhou Automobile Group is currently the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in China.
The company makes conventional automobile, electric vehicles and charging stations.
