Prototype of 8-propeller flying car Alef unveiled

A California-based sustainable electric transportation company unveiled the prototype of a flying car, according to a company release.

The Alef “Model A,” the only flying automobile with street-legal driving and vertical takeoff abilities, is presented by Alef Aeronautics, a cutting-edge technology company developing alternative transportation solutions for soaring traffic patterns.

Alef uses innovative technology to elevate the vehicle securely above regular traffic, enabling quicker, simpler travel, and reducing the load of urban congestion.

Using eight propellers housed inside a body roughly the size of a big automobile, the battery-powered device will launch vertically if used as intended. The vehicle’s mesh-topped body houses one or two people inside bubble-like compartments, but most of the space is empty.

According to engineering director and co-founder, Constantine Kisly, the initial Alef Model A should have a payload of roughly 200 pounds (90.7kg), including the passenger and luggage.

The Alef Model’s top surface, an open mesh, allows air to move through the flying car. Four propellers are housed in the hull on one side of the passenger bubble and four on the other.

What happens next is more unique but crucial to the aircraft’s design, having only been tested on tiny prototypes. The body rotates 90 degrees around its long axis to change from upward to forward flight.