Aston Martin unveils its concept luxury flying car
What's the story
As an expression of interest in flying cars, luxury car maker Aston Martin has unveiled its concept of a personal aerial vehicle and it is as luxurious as you would expect.
The three-seater aircraft, called the Volante Vision Concept was unveiled on Monday, and the concept vehicle's design is expected to make a debut at the Farnborough Air Show later this month.
Here's more.
Basics
The hybrid-electric Volante Vision will have VTOL capabilities
Although still a hypothetical concept, Aston Martin envisions that the Volante Vision, like its eventual competitors, will have vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities.
The vehicle will use a hybrid-electric power train, and will have a horizontally-mounted turboprop at the back, and two pairs of tilt-able and rotate-able propellers mounted on the Y-wing at the front of the vehicle.
Do you know?
Volante Vision Concept was developed in partnership with Rolls Royce
To develop the Volante Vision Concept, Aston Martin teamed up with super-luxury car maker Rolls Royce, Cranfield University, and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions.
Luxury
Luxury goes hand-in-hand with Aston Martin
Despite the vehicle looking more like a fighter jet than a flying car, Aston Martin has (obviously) incorporated luxury into the design.
The vehicle will come with large, over-sized seats sporting the iconic Aston Martin logo, have a stabilizer for comfortable flights, and will also have a heads-up-display system wherein autonomous navigation and other information will be projected on to the all-glass cockpit canopy.
Questions
Questions pertaining to cost and testing still remain
Despite the unveiling, major questions remain about the Volante Vision.
Aston Martin didn't reveal the estimated cost of a Volante Vision. Neither did it reveal how much a ride would cost, if it's indeed deployed as a flying taxi akin to what Uber is trying to do.
Additionally, the luxury car maker has yet to specify a date for test flights.