There is a new company that has made its first flight in what we would call the “next move” in the transportation business. In the industry, flying cars are referred to as eVTOL, or electric vertical take-off and landing planes. They have been in the works for a long time. There are projects going on at car companies such as Porsche, Hyundai, Boeing, and others, though they don’t seem like they’re in a hurry to get them done!
The thought of flying cars still seems like something out of the future. Companies have come up with a lot of ideas for flying cars that can go around cities. They either look and feel like small helicopters or planes, or they look and feel like cars. Additionally, they are large, expensive, and only safe to fly if the operator is an experienced pilot.
It looks like Bellwether, a new company from the UK, is strongly pushing this idea in the aviation industry after it successfully flew its flying car prototype. As they put it: “It’s not a flying car, it’s a new type of vehicle.” Volar (the name they call it) is a remarkable idea that, if it is successful, might pave the way for future flying vehicles. Other companies haven’t been able to come up with a better design, technology, appearance, or shape. “Volar” wants to be the idea that makes a difference.
Four Royal College of Art students in the Intelligent Mobility department came up with the idea for Volar and developed it into a functioning prototype. It took a long time and a lot of work for the four students to bring their ideas to life. There were a lot of different things they did to make their design better. They made clay models, CAD models, ran simulation tests, and built clay models. When they started Bellwether Industries in 2019, they had already started working with the right people in the flying car business.
Volar can take off and land on the ground. It has a hidden propulsion system that makes it move. Small and personal, the car can be scaled down and sold at a low price. It’s supposed to be able to go around cities, so it’s electric, doesn’t make much noise, and doesn’t cause any pollution. In the past, the team worked on a hovercraft, or “hovering car,” that they called Gazelle. This project is built on top of the Gazelle.
The new company, Bellwether, has just begun its mission. As it stands now, it’s more like a drone than a car. But the company wants to create the real thing and see it fly. Since last year, the team has worked on flight tests in secret. It is their ambition to have flying cars available in all major cities globally by 2030. They’re trying to keep the price as low as possible compared to the cost of purchasing an automobile. The company believes that “anyone should be able to fly”. It’s not clear if Bellwether’s ambition will come to be fulfilled.
