It’s hard to realize your dream even if you rely on Google, flying car company Kittyhawk is about to close

Today, the well-known flying car company Kittyhawk announced on Twitter that it will be shutting down. This would frustrate people’s long-standing dream of flying cars.

Kittyhawk was founded in 2010, backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and led by former Google Vice President Sebastian Thrun serves as CEO. For more than a decade, Kittyhawk has been working hard to open up the market for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), aiming to make small helicopters as convenient transportation as taxis.

In 2019, Kittyhawk and aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing established a joint venture called Wisk, with Boeing committing to invest $450 million in Wisk.

A spokesperson for Boeing said: "The cessation of Kittyhawk operations will not affect Boeing's commitment to Wisk. We are proud to be a founding member of Wisk Aero and are excited to see their work on Earlier this week, Boeing and Wisk unveiled their vision for eVTOLs to coexist with large commercial aircraft. . Boeing also showcased Wisk's rotor-powered aircraft, Cora, at the Farnborough International Air Show in July.

In addition, Boeing has been providing engineering resources for a larger electric four-seat aircraft.

Unknown industry prospects

Although the Kittyhawk company is about to collapse, the flying car industry has also had good news recently. Just a few days ago, a flying motorcycle priced at 5.4 million was announced for sale.

This flying motorcycle is called XTurismo, which means "travel" in Spanish. We seem to have seen this kind of flying artifact in science fiction movies, and now it has become a reality:

However, the price of 5.4 million cannot be enough It is as popular as an ordinary motorcycle or taxi.

As an application-level innovation, flying cars have spawned many types of aerial vehicles in the past decade. In addition to vertical take-off and landing aircraft and flying motorcycles, there is also an aerial bicycle.

The paravelo body of this air bicycle pulls a semi-trailer equipped with a biofuel fan. When there is sufficient space as a runway, the semi-trailer and the bicycle are docked to form a flying bicycle. The bike can fly for 3 hours with a full tank of fuel.

According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 "flying car" projects under development around the world, involving companies including: aviation giants Boeing, Airbus, Bell, and leading car company Volkswagen , Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, etc., as well as technology giants such as Google and Intel, as well as flying car companies owned by some large companies. In recent years, car companies such as Geely and Xpeng have also entered the flying car industry. The air taxi market where Kittyhawk is located also has many competitors, including Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation and others.

However, the prospect of flying cars is still very uncertain. The demise of Kittyhawk illustrates this point. In addition, the relevant aviation regulatory agencies have not certified these aircraft for manned flight, and there is still a long way to go before convenient and safe "flying in the air" can be achieved.

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