Flying car project coming in for a landing, exec says

(NewsNation) — A San Mateo, Calif.-based company should begin delivering its version of a flying car to consumers in about a year, the top executive tells “NewsNation Prime.”

Alef Aeronautics, which has successfully tested an electric “ultralight” prototype, has more than 3,000 preorders for flying cars as it raises additional capital, CEO Jim Dukhovny said Sunday.

“As of today, we’re well on track to get the first one in about a year,” he said Sunday. “But we still need all those resources to get it done.”

Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef Aeronautics, reveals the Alef Model A Flying Car at the 2023 North American International Detroit Auto Show on September 13, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

As demonstrated in public and promotional videos, Alef’s flying car is a four-wheeled land vehicle that lifts off, hovers and veers like a drone, sometimes banking steeply. Dukhovny said the operator inside the vehicle will remain upright, regardless of the angle of the car, through a gimbal system.

The Alef craft is priced at $300,000, but several rival companies are working on their own versions of automobiles that can take flight.

Asked about the safety of flying cars, Dukhovny said the FAA is working to modernize aviation, and the “modernization of aviation also includes the modernization of safety.”