Latest news with #AlefAeronautics
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
US flying car ambitions take off, but can they fix Bay Area traffic?
If any place in the United States embodies the convergence of science fiction and reality, it's Silicon Valley. Alef Aeronautics is one of several Bay Area companies competing to combine the two in the automotive market with flying vehicles. In February, the company, based in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, unveiled a prototype of its flying car, Model Zero, at the Silicon Valley Auto Show. Soon after, the company demonstrated its ability to lift off. Archer Aviation, based further south in San Jose, showcased its electric air taxi at San Francisco International Airport in early April, while Aska in Mountain View and Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz are also working on air mobility solutions. Alef's founders believe they will be the first to produce a vehicle capable of both ground transportation and vertical takeoff. The fully electric Alef flying car can climb as high as 305 to 610 metres, developers claim, by using its entire body as an airfoil, or wing shape, during flight, a process enabled by cabin rotation, Alef co-founder Constantine Kisly explained. It has a flight range of 177 kilometres and a driving range of 321 kilometres. For safety, the vehicle employs a redundant multirotor system, meaning it has several independent motors to ensure stable flight and controlled landings. Currently operating in a semi-autonomous mode, Alef is developing fully autonomous models. Which government body would regulate such an effort by Alef is still under discussion. While the Federal Aviation Administration would most likely be involved, the California Department of Motor Vehicles would also need to be considered because the car still operates as a ground-based vehicle. As futuristic as the concept sounds, the Bay Area's entrenched transit problems — fragmented infrastructure, heavy congestion and high costs — raise questions about whether flying cars will be a practical solution or just another luxury item for the wealthy. 'One of the big, unsolved challenges in society is traffic,' Kisly said. Kisly said traditional commuter solutions focus on underground systems like tunnels and subways or on-ground infrastructure such as highways and public transit. 'But few have looked to the sky,' he said. 'We have small aviation and big aviation, but nothing that really covers the commuting range — say, 30 to 100 miles (48 to 161 kilometres). That's exactly the space we're targeting. And the question is: Who's going to use it? Who's going to occupy that space? We believe it's going to be us, because it's a perfect fit.' Alef's prototype has already attracted attention, securing more than 3,300 pre-orders and backing from high-profile venture capitalist Tim Draper, an early Tesla investor. But skepticism remains. During a recent episode of 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,' the comedian dismissed the vehicle, joking it looked like 'Lightning McQueen got canceled and rebounded by starting his own energy drink company.' Other critics have also chimed in, arguing that flying cars are unlikely to become an accessible transit option for today's average commuter. 'It's interesting to imagine that one day you might be able to take to the air the way some people take helicopters to the airport,' said Adina Levin, co-founder of transit advocacy group Seamless Bay Area. 'There's already a market for that — people with private jets, corporate jets, or those who can afford a helicopter ride to a ballgame.' She doesn't see flying cars becoming 'something accessible to the general public anytime soon.' 'It's still very much a luxury,' Levin added. Currently, Alef's Model Zero is priced at $300,000. Kisly said the company hopes to lower the cost over time, eventually making flying cars available at a price comparable to a regular sedan. For Levin, the solution to the Bay Area's transit woes lies not in the skies, but in a more cohesive, ground-based system. Bay Area public transit remains fragmented across multiple agencies and jurisdictions, making it difficult for riders to navigate. Levin believes ongoing regional efforts, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Plan Bay Area 2050+, will be key to solving congestion and connectivity challenges. 'Around the world, there are many examples of regions that have multiple transit agencies,' she said. 'But they also have a network management organization that coordinates them.' The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which oversees regional transit planning, is working to improve the interconnectedness of Bay Area transit systems. 'It's designed to identify long-range strategies for the next 25 years to make the Bay Area more affordable, connected, diverse, healthy and vibrant,' said Dave Vautin, MTC's director of regional planning. Vautin acknowledged that while emerging technologies like flying cars are part of the broader conversation, infrastructure challenges make widespread adoption unlikely in the near future. 'That's obviously a hot topic in transportation planning right now,' he said. 'In the '60s and '70s, there were helicopter lines within the Bay Area, but they ultimately fizzled out. It's interesting to consider the parallels — and the challenges the private sector faced in making those services viable back then.' Public transportation expert Michael Ostrovsky, an economics professor at Stanford University, believes the future of transportation will require both traditional and emerging solutions. 'I no longer think of this as science fiction. We are in the research phase, but the technology is here,' Ostrovsky said. However, he emphasized that traditional public transit will remain essential. 'You can't get away from the fact that a train can carry a huge number of people very efficiently,' he said. 'That's not going to change even with the latest technologies.'
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
This Flying Car Prototype Soars Over a Stopped Car
New videos from Alef Aeronautics show the company's flying car initially driving like a road vehicle, then taking off into a flight that takes it over another vehicle in a simulation of a blocked traffic scenario. The model shown in the demos is the Alef Model Zero Ultralight which, as the name suggests, is a lighter prototype used for research and development. It has some key differences from the company's first production vehicle, the Alef Model A. While the Model Zero Ultralight has a smaller battery to keep its weight down, the larger battery in Alef's Model A is expected to have a flight range of 110 miles or a driving range of 200 miles. Those numbers may increase if the company adopts new battery technology. Thinner and smaller wheels than a traditional car also help reduce the vehicle's weight while allowing it to drive in various conditions. While the Model Zero Ultralight requires an experienced test pilot right now, Alef CEO and co-founder Jim Dukhovny says the Model A will be much easier for an average person to fly. The optimal cruise speed in the air for the Model A is expected to be about 100mph, with the top speed predicted to be about 225mph. On the ground, the car is currently registered as a low-speed vehicle for research and development purposes, which means it is limited to about 25mph top speed. Dukhovny says higher ground speed is possible and the eventual goal; it just requires crash testing and regulatory approval. Until then, the company is not yet ready to crash its prototype. Alef is accepting preorders for its Model A, which is expected to cost around $300,000. Like most startups, the price will likely decrease as production scales up. To see this flying car in action, check out the video in this article.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
This might be the first vehicle that drives and flies
Alef Aeronautics has shared the first video of its flying car, Model Zero. CEO Jim Dukhovny hopes this innovation will prove the viability of flying cars and create a new market in transportation, according to Reuters. Sign in to access your portfolio
CNN
27-02-2025
- Automotive
- CNN
This might be the first vehicle that drives and flies
Alef Aeronautics has shared the first video of its flying car, Model Zero. CEO Jim Dukhovny hopes this innovation will prove the viability of flying cars and create a new market in transportation, according to Reuters.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
This So-Called Flying Car Sure Seems Like A Miserable Way To Travel
New video surfaced this week of Alef Aeronautics new Model Zero A "flying car" taking off, hovering over a Chevrolet Suburban, and touching down again on the other side. While the non-car media is hailing this as a "world's first" flying car, I hesitate to actually call this thing a flying car because it barely flies, it's barely a car and flying cars aren't a thing. Alef CEO and co-founder Jim Dukhovny has been endeavoring for an entire decade to build this half-assed contraption, and says it will reach production later this year, you know, if nothing goes wrong. "If everything goes right, if we have enough funds, if the legislation does not get worse, we plan to start production of the first one by the end of 2025," is what Dukhovny told a CNBC reporter back in April. Everything about this machine seems supremely sketchy. Judging from how loud it is, to how floaty and uncontrolled it looks in the air to how small and narrow the wheels are, it is a high level of bad idea to sign up for by getting in one of these. At the car-hopping test Dukhovny told a reporter from the Independent "...this drive and flight test represents an important proof of technology in a real-world city environment. We hope it will be a moment similar to the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk video, proving to humanity that new transportation is possible." In fairness, the Model Zero A looks about as stable and capable as the Wright Flyer was 112 years ago. This video (below) is less a demonstration of human ingenuity and more what seems to be a Silicon Valley grift to raise more funds for Alef to keep working on this flimsy vaporware piece of crap. The Model Zero A is a very small and lightweight pod for one person with a quartet of really big, really loud drone propellers under the bodywork. The drone rotors can't lift a ton of weight, so passenger capacity is limited to just 250 pounds. The company says it has over 3,000 pre-orders for the $300,000 electric drone with vaguely car-shaped bodywork. As a car the Model Zero A can allegedly do 198 miles on a full battery, but as an aircraft you can cut that figure in half. The company will begin working on a more fiscally responsible version in the coming years, which it calls Model Z, allegedly for just $35,000. I'll believe that when I see it. Read more: GM Hopes A Clutch Pedal Is Enough To Make Enthusiasts Buy EVs The Model Zero A prototype owes its questionably automobile-shaped aesthetics to its ability to "fly." Each of the Model Zero's rotors are hidden under the car's mesh-and-skirts bodywork, which allows for air to pass through the upper structure of the car, and the solid vertical surfaces acting as a shroud for the rotors. Alef says that the car is designed to be driven most of the time, then operate as an eVTOL when you need to jump over a traffic jam. "We're building the solution to the issues of modern congestion," claims the Alef website. The car is sized to drive in a regular lane and park in a regular parking space or garage. How that plastic skirting along the bottom is supposed to hold up under doing regular car things is anyone's guess. I'm a big fan of automakers trying to figure out how to build more efficient and super-lightweight commuter electric vehicles with 200 miles of range, but when they added the fans to make the car fly, they lost me. The whole idea of eVTOLs scares the crap out of me, and Alef doesn't do anything different enough to alleviate my fears. Not only do I not want a car that can fly, I don't want other people to have them either. The amount of poorly trained drivers on the road is already too high, you're going to give them the power of flight, too? The idea that a thousand pounds of spinning blades and carbon fiber can just drop out of the sky while I'm minding my own business sitting in traffic sounds like a nightmare. And on top of that, the thing sounds like a swarm of angry bees when you fire up the rotors. Don't give Americans access to this kind of machine, it will only end in death. Read the original article on Jalopnik.
