Chinese company successfully tests flying car in Dubai 1:06
(CNN) --
Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic "Back to the Future," archetypal mad inventor Doc Brown announces "where we're going, we don't need roads" as the time-traveling DeLorean soars into the sky. air.
Although flying cars haven't yet filled our skies, there are several in development.
Last week, Chinese company XPeng X2 successfully conducted the first public test flight of its two-seat flying car at Dubai's GITEX technology fair, even sharing the DeLorean's famous gull-wing door design.
The XPeng X2 is lifted vertically off the ground by eight propellers, without the need for a landing strip, making it suitable for urban areas.
The vehicle, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric and its creators say it can rise into the air at about two meters per second and reach speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour.
Reality exceeds fiction: the first public flight of a Chinese flying car that does not pollute is carried out in Dubai
Although the test flight only lasted 90 seconds, according to Liu Xinyin, chief aviation specialist at XPeng Aeroht, the technology is close to being ready for public use, but regulations on flying cars are still some way off.
XPeng plans to work with governments to establish regulatory physical infrastructure for flying cars in urban areas, and Liu believes people will be able to use flying cars within limited regulated spaces in just five years.
This coincides with the Chinese government's ambitious plans to launch flying taxis by 2025.
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The company behind the XPeng X2 is confident that flying cars will be available for public use in about five years.
Credit: XPENG AEROHT
As if flying wasn't futuristic enough, the XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation: it can be driven manually or configured for autonomous driving.
"Learn to avoid traffic, buildings and people," says Liu.
Autonomous driving elements pose more difficulties in terms of regulation, and also question public acceptance.
Many people continue to worry about safety issues surrounding self-driving autonomous vehicles on land, not to mention vehicles speeding overhead.
However, XPeng claims that it is safer for its flying car to drive autonomously than for it to be driven by a human.
There are dozens of flying cars in development around the world, and many of them actually fly, such as Canadian company Opener's "BlackFly," SkyDrive Inc's "SD-03," and Klein Vision's "AirCar" prototype, which last year it successfully completed a 35-minute test flight between two cities in Slovakia.
The benefits of flying cars like the XPeng X2 go beyond the realization of pop culture dreams.
Its proponents claim that flying cars could revolutionize urban transport, making roads less congested and therefore safer for pedestrians and cyclists, and, in the case of electric vehicles like the XPeng X2, also would reduce carbon emissions.
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The XPeng X2 electric flying car, one of dozens of aerial cars currently in development, completed its first public test flight in Dubai at the Gitex 2022 technology expo. See other prototypes in the gallery.
Credit: XPENG AEROHT
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Chinese company XPeng Aeroht hopes to have a flying vehicle available for public use in small, regulated urban areas in as little as five years.
Credit: GITEX 2022
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SkyDrive's single-passenger flying car, designed to be a zero-emission flying craft, was also on display at Gitex.
Credit: KARIM SAHIB/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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This air taxi from the Chinese company Ehang is also under development.
After several successful public test flights, the Ehang 216 is expected to be ready by 2025, when the government plans to have flying taxis in the air.
Credit: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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Hoversurf's Drone Taxi prototype made its first test flight in 2021 and the company hopes to have it in the city skies by 2025. Hoversurf is also working on plans for a Drone Ambulance.
Credit: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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Germany's Volocopter 2X takes a different approach to the flying car challenge.
Technically, it is a multirotor electric helicopter, whose objective is to serve as an air taxi in urban areas.
Credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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The CityAirbus NextGen prototype is an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle.
What sets it apart from many other vehicles for urban flights is that it has room for four passengers instead of one or two.
Credit: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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The Lilium Evtol Jet is designed as a floating minibus.
It takes off vertically, but soars through the air with wings and uses electric propulsion.
Credit: CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/AFP via Getty Images
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Israeli company Eviation Aircraft has successfully developed and flown Alice, the world's first electric passenger aircraft intended for short-distance travel.
Credit: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
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