“
In 1940, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor In the United States, made a high-profile prediction, "Remember my words: the combination of airplane and automobile is about to come out." You may smile when you hear it, but it will come. But Henry Ford did not wait for the advent of the flying car era in his lifetime, and for a long time afterwards, the concept remained in science fiction, but it has been gradually broken in recent years.
Last year, Geely Technology announced that its flying car TF-1 has obtained the airworthiness certificate of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) method, which is also the first time that the FAA has given a certificate of product solution to flying vehicles, which is the first case in the world.
On March 15, 2022, AeroMobil announced the launch of a second flying car, a 4-seat AM NEXT. AM NEXT is based on AeroMobil's first production 2-seat flying car, the AeroMobil 4.0, which combines the characteristics of a supercar and a light aircraft, and is scheduled to begin deliveries in 2024.
On March 25, Xiaopeng announced that its Xiaopeng Huitian has completed several test flights of its latest intelligent flying car, the X2, and has arrived in the Netherlands for the first time on March 10, preparing to make an appearance in Europe.
In addition, Xiaopeng Automobile also exposed another patent for the design of a flying car: the new product looks more like a car, and the top propeller is a foldable design, or it may become a new solution to meet the actual traffic conditions of land and air.
Capital poured into the track quickly
Capital has poured in as the number of companies involved in the development of flying cars has soared. In 2016, there were only six or seven flying cars in the world, and only two years later, in 2018, more than 70 companies participated in the research and development of flying cars, and as of the first half of 2021, more than 200 companies or institutions were researching about 420 models of related products.
We can see that the enterprises that lay out the flight automotive industry include aviation industry giants such as Boeing and Airbus, as well as old players of aircraft research and development companies like DJI, as well as traditional automobile manufacturers such as Toyota and Geely, as well as emerging technology companies such as EHang and Xiaopeng, including car companies, Internet technology companies and Internet travel companies.
· Boeing acquires Aerotech company Aurora Flight Sciences and partners with Porsche to develop an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL)
· Toyota invested in Joby Aviation and Sky Drive
· Geely Automobile acquired Terrafugia in the United States and invested in Volocopoter in Germany
· Tech giant Tencent has twice led Lilium
Veteran car companies naturally will not let flying cars have a "variable" that may cause industry subversion to grow wantonly; Google, Tencent and other technology companies, also stimulated by Tesla's "technology car" success case, pay great attention to flying cars; and also have expectations for the field of Internet travel companies such as Uber, compared to pure traffic moat, the technology moat contained in flying cars is obviously more attractive. Boeing, Airbus and other airlines are the fourth force in the field of flying cars, after all, flying is its own business, and the aviation power system required by flying cars has more or less their shadow existence.
With the gradual construction of the track, the capitalization process of the flying automotive industry is also extremely rapid. In 2021, a total of five flying car companies will be listed through SPAC. They are the American flying car company Archer and Joby, the German flying car company Lilium, the British flying car company Vetic, and embraer's flying car company Eve.
In the three months from September to November 2021, Fengfei Technology, Volante Aviation, Xiaopeng Huitian, Weihang Airliner and other enterprises have received financing ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of US dollars, of which Xiaopeng Huitian has won 500 million US dollars in the A round of financing in October 2021, which is provided by the gorgeous investment team composed of IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Venture Capital, etc.
The entry of massive funds has accelerated the growth of the entire flying car ecology, and the flying taxi, which has long been regarded as science fantasy, is becoming closer and closer to reality.
It is predicted that by 2030, more than 60% of the world's population will live in cities, and the flying automotive industry will create a market size of $300 billion, which will initially transform some of the market share of ground transportation, aircraft and public transportation, and eventually open up a number of new business areas with technological development, which can grow to a market of 1.5 trillion US dollars in 2040.
Source: Morgan Stanley
Domestic flying cars are gradually on the right track
The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the Outline of the Medium- and Long-term Development Plan for Scientific and Technological Innovation in the Field of Transportation (2021-2035) to promote the innovation and development of transportation science and technology. It mentions that it is necessary to "deploy the research and development of flying vehicles, break through the integration of aircraft and automobiles, and free switching between flight and ground driving."
This means that the flying cars that have flourished since 2020 have finally received official support, after all, the development prospects of flying cars in the mainland are supported by objective needs.
First of all, urban traffic congestion is the most common problem in today's major cities, and traditional measures such as building viaducts and underground tunnels have been difficult to effectively solve the problem of networking effects of traffic flow in urban congestion.
In addition, the convenient transportation brought by flying cars will also make it easier to achieve the "decentralization" effect of the city, which will affect the development form of urban and rural areas and the layout of social public resources in the long run, and promote the infrastructure construction and consumption development of suburbs and even rural areas. Rural residents can enjoy urban services more quickly and urban residents can get closer to nature more easily, thereby accelerating the integration of urban and rural areas and affecting the development of cities and villages.
The most important thing is that under the background of the mainland's active promotion of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality", the carbon reduction effect of ground transportation brought by flying cars will greatly reduce the carbon emissions of the entire transportation industry, which can be said to be a practical step on various favorable policies.
But the development of flying cars still has a long way to go. The obstacle environment faced by flying cars at low altitude is not as complex as the ground, but the meteorological environment seriously affects the safety of low-altitude flight, and once an accident occurs, it will have a fatal blow to the healthy development of the entire industry.
In the future, to promote the application of flying cars, it is necessary to continue to innovate in key technologies such as platform configuration, flight control driving and power propulsion. While promoting the market of technology research and development, the system layout of the mainland flight automobile related industry development and supporting infrastructure construction, the introduction or improvement of relevant industrial policies, the flight industry innovation, talent, application, norms, standards and other aspects of support.
Of course, the development of the policy is a process of quantitative change to qualitative change, with the influx of capital, the market environment matures, the policy will gradually open up, in this process the regulatory authorities will also solicit the opinions of enterprises, mutual adaptation, mutual promotion.
·Conclusion·
There is a saying in the technology industry that it takes years of effort to become famous overnight. Tesla has become a leading enterprise in the field of new energy vehicles by itself, and has fully enjoyed the dividends of the growth of the new energy vehicle market. For many enterprises and capitals that pay attention to and participate in the development of flying cars, becoming a "Tesla" in the field of flying cars is undoubtedly their goal.
Once the flying car market is successfully constructed, it means opening a new trillion-level market door, and its dividends are naturally irresistible. However, whether it is the power needed by the car in the sky, the operating system, or the intelligent travel ecology around it, it is not very quick to achieve. The development of flying cars still faces many dilemmas such as rules, technology and markets, and there are still many things to do on the way to maturity.
This era is created by innovators, and we look forward to more young and outstanding entrepreneurs to seize new opportunities for development, and also hope that through our strength, more investors, industry experts and local governments can pay more attention to them and inspire them.
"2022 Hurun U30 China Entrepreneurial Leader" We will see your potential, continue to record your development as a historical changemaker, and jointly promote the high-quality development of China's economy.
Material source: Land of Automobiles, Civil Aviation No. 2 Institute, Xiaopeng Automobile
END
To view the full list, past list and press releases, please log on to the "Hurun Report" Mini Program, or consult Hurun Report Customer Service (hurun-1999)