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The tech behind a flying car, originally developed and successfully test-flown in Europe, has been bought by a Chinese firm (www.bbc.com)

submitted 7 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Powered by a BMW engine and normal fuel, the AirCar flew for 35 minutes between two Slovakian airports in 2021, using runways for take-off and landing.

It took just over two minutes to transform from a car into an aircraft.

Now vehicles made based on its design will be used within a "specific geographical region" of China.

Hebei Jianxin Flying Car Technology Company, headquartered in Cangzhou, has purchased exclusive rights to manufacture and use AirCar aircraft inside an undisclosed area.

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[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

They successfully unloaded their failed company on some greater fool. These things will never be viable for anything other than being rich people toys.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They're not even great toys though.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 4 points 7 months ago

But you can use it to show off to your "friends", so what makes it worthwhile to them.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

China is the best chance for it to succeed though. It would be far more expensive to gain regulatory approval across dozens of western countries than to just bribe a bunch of CCP regulators and gain domestic access to millions of millionaires in one of the largest countries on Earth.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 4 points 7 months ago

But after a few of those fall from the sky, bribes won't help any more.