Türkiye’s first domestically developed flying automobile, AirCar, constructed up inside a venture within the northwestern province of Kocaeli, often known as the hub for the automotive trade and data applied sciences, has began crewed flights, in line with a report on Thursday.
The flights commenced a month in the past, the creator of the venture advised Ihlas News Agency (IHA), explaining that they joined a small league of simply 5 firms on this planet that function on this subject.
“The Bosporus route in Istanbul may be very appropriate for AirCar. Crossings from one facet to the opposite may be made with no need to succeed in excessive altitudes. We also can present service to the (Princes) islands. We purpose to move each cargo and folks to hard-to-reach areas throughout Türkiye,” Eray Altunbozar mentioned.
After finishing his electrical and electronics engineering training within the U.S. and returning to Türkiye, Altunbozar introduced the AirCar venture to life in his workshop situated in Kocaeli’s Bilişim Vadisi (Informatics Valley).
The AirCar, a results of practically seven years of labor, is getting ready to place Türkiye as a pioneer within the period of flying automobiles. Accordingly, after its testing section, AirCar has begun its first human-crewed flights.
“We started crewed flights a month ago. The vehicle you see behind me is a completed prototype of the AirCar,” Altunbozar mentioned.
“The last four years have been very intense. We started this journey about seven years ago. In the early years, we focused on concept development and waited for the market to mature. Now, we’ve begun crewed flights with our two-person model. There are only five companies in the world operating in this field, and we are one of them,” he added.
Altunbozar additionally defined that there are presently two AirCar fashions: a single-seater and a two-seater.
“We’ve been conducting test flights with the single-seater model for some time. Now, we’ve started crewed flights with the two-seater version. This model can carry approximately 200-220 kilograms, and we’re targeting a range of 50 kilometers (31 miles). We haven’t started tests over that distance yet, but we plan to do so in the near future,” he mentioned.
He emphasised that the AirCar is absolutely electrical and options autonomous programs. “However, according to current regulations, even if the vehicle is autonomous, it must have a pilot on board. Therefore, the vehicle is equipped with a joystick. With about 30 hours of training, it will be possible to operate the vehicle. It will initially be available for personal sale. Later on, it could also be used as an air taxi,” he defined.
To enhance flight vary, they selected electrical programs, mentioned Altunbozar, including: “We may have achieved this utilizing fuel-based programs, which might have elevated our vary from 50 kilometers per cost to 150 kilometers. We can nonetheless try this at present. However, battery applied sciences are advancing quickly. The world can be shifting from fossil fuels to electrical vitality. It could appear to be we’re simply getting began at present, however it would nonetheless take a couple of years earlier than we enter the market. By then, battery applied sciences will doubtless obtain much more help.”
“We said, ‘If we aim for the right technology at the right time, we’ll be in the right position when the time comes.’ And now we’re moving forward fully electric. We’re happy with this choice,” he concluded.
The flying automobiles and air taxis trade is presently creating and nonetheless faces regulatory hurdles around the globe. However, it’s seen as a futuristic expertise that would ease site visitors congestion and assist transport individuals over shorter distances.
Volocopter, an city air pioneer, for instance, did not get the approval for flight throughout final 12 months’s Olympic Games in Paris.
Still, the flying automobiles and vertical take-off and touchdown (VTOL) plane, additionally known as air taxis, garnered important consideration at this 12 months’s auto present in Shanghai.
Source: www.dailysabah.com