Flying cars are coming. You’ll need $300K and the space to fly it.

• Companies like Tesla and Alef Aeronautics are building cars that can navigate both roads and skies.
• Alef is targeting 2027 for the first delivery, while Tesla said production will start in 2028.
• Alef Aeronautics CEO said early use cases will be for those living in remote areas or the mountains.

Two days before Tesla’s demonstration of its kickflipping Roadster put flying cars back in the spotlight, a startup that has been building flying cars since 2015 posted a video-slash-salvo of a test model hovering over a Tesla Cybertruck and an early-generation Roadster.

“A lot of people now are aware of the Roadster, but we were already flying for five years,” Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef Aeronautics, told Business Insider, adding that they have logged about 1,000 flights.

Alef planned the video response about a month before the Roadster demo, after reports indicated Tesla might debut a flying car, he said.

As for when flying cars will actually be delivered to the public, Tesla said its Roadster will start production in 2028, but the version that includes a “full flight system” will be invite-only. Meanwhile, Dukhovny said his company hopes to deliver its first car by next year.

There are hefty price tags for both: Alef Aeronautics expects its flying car to cost $300,000 with a $150 preorder deposit. Tesla doesn’t display the full price of the Roadster. The company website states the Roadster with “acceleration thrusters” requires a $250,000 deposit.

Dukhovny said the cost for a flying car is too high — even for him.

“I cannot afford it right now,” he said about purchasing one, adding, “Once we go to mass production and once we get to the scale of automotive manufacturing, that should cost under $25,000.”

Price isn’t the only barrier. You’ll also need a place to fly it.

Dukhovny, who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, said that while we may not need dedicated heliports for flying cars, we shouldn’t expect to take off somewhere in the middle of downtown to avoid traffic.

“You cannot take off from Market Street or land on Market Street,” he said, referring to a major San Francisco artery. “Not right now, not ever. You have to take off and land from places where it’s allowed, but you don’t have to build that.”

Alexandre Bayen, an electrical engineering and computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies advanced transportation systems, said the technology behind flying cars isn’t the challenge; rather, it’s building a reliable transit system with those cars.

Factoring in regulations, infrastructure, and public acceptance, Bayen said a world in which people in dense urban areas can travel by flying car is likely generations away.

“Thinking of this as a vehicle for mass transit in the near future is, I think, absolutely unrealistic,” he said.

Dukhonvy said he imagines early use cases revolving around people living in remote locations — think mountainous terrain or areas with underdeveloped roads. The CEO framed it as a cost- and time-saving measure for the wealthy.

Bayen similarly said he could see flying-car technology being useful for short commutes over small bodies of water.

“The one type of demand that this type of technology solves is a very elite shortcut commute above water or obstacles for people who can afford it,” he said.

Companies like Joby Aircraft and Archer Aviation are building an air transit system with eVTOLs — electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft — that are similar to helicopters but quieter and powered by electricity.

Dukhovny stressed that flying cars are different because they can drive on roads.

“Right now, there are only two that exist,” he said. “Us and Tesla.”

A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider