‘A Motorsport Revolution’: World’s First, Fastest Crewed Flying Car, the Airspeeder MK4 Unveiled
We’ve had the Lazzarini $600M Air Yacht Flying Catamaran Concept, a Samson Switchblade ‘Flying Car’ Ready for Take-Off and rumours about whether or not This Toyota-Backed Flying Car is the Future of Transport. And now, Alauda Aeronautics has unveiled the world’s first and fastest crewed flying car, the Airspeeder MK4.
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Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Designed and built in Adelaide, South Australia, inside the World’s-First eVTOL Flying Racing Car Factory in Australia, the new electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft can reach a top speed of 360 km/h (225 mph) in just 30 seconds from a standing start, making it designed for maximum agility at high speeds and low altitudes. But when they say “crewed”, it means this flying car is designed for one thing and one thing only: racing really, really fast! But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing or two from this new technology. Especially since Alauda Aeronautics has made it clear they want to make flying cars a genuine reality.
“We, and the world, are ready for crewed flying car racing”, says Matt Pearson, CEO of Alauda Aeronautics. “Now is the time for the world’s most progressive, innovative and ambitious automotive brands, OEM manufacturers and motorsport teams to be part of a truly revolutionary new motorsport. In unveiling the crewed Airspeeder MK4, we show the vehicles that will battle it out in blade-to-blade racing crewed by the most highly skilled pilots in their fields.”
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
The Airspeeder MK4 is powered by a 1,000 kW (1,340 horsepower) turbogenerator that feeds power to the batteries and motors. Powered by green hydrogen fuel, the Airspeeder provides safe, reliable, and sustainable power over long distances and flight times via the sophisticated electric propulsion system. Coupled with advanced aerodynamics, and a take-off weight (MTOW) of under 950 kg, it’s so efficient the Airspeed has a projected range of 300 km (188 miles).
The new aircraft is a progression of the remotely piloted MK3, which has completed over 350 test flights and two Airspeeder demonstration races in South Australia in 2022. Alauda Aeronautics plans to begin flight testing the MK4 in the first quarter of 2023, and it will be ready to take the start line at the Airspeeder Racing Championship in 2024. The Airspeeder racing series is a testing ground for sustainable green propulsion systems with the potential to change how we all travel in the future. And they’re throwing out the gauntlet to any OEM partners willing to join them in what they call “a motorsport revolution”.
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
As for racing, Alauda Aeronautics has “a grand vision” for its Airspeeder racing series that is actually more focused on reducing emissions via its sustainable green propulsion systems. Already garnering a massive international fanbase and the attention of the world’s top pilots for its spectacular show of speed and skill, Alauda Aerospace sees it as “a testing ground” that has “the potential to change how we all travel in future.”
Alauda Aeronautics is already envisioning a scenario in which private flying cars are a daily reality and a viable mode of urban transportation. Its engineering and design team, drawn from Airbus, Boeing, Ferrari, MagniX, and McLaren, is confident that its innovations will make air travel faster, more efficient, environmentally friendlier, and more accessible than ever before. Already aware that eVTOLs are “a trillion-dollar industry,” Pearson sees “a very substantial market for private flying cars emerging in the near future.”
“In conventional aerospace, there are about as many private jets as there are commercial jets in operation. We believe it could be the same with flying cars one day, with a roughly similar number of commercial taxis and private cars initially.”
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Pointing to the discrepancy between private cars and taxis (they outnumber them 300 to one), Pearson predicts a “balance shift” towards flying car ownership. “The potential for people to own and drive their own flying car one day is absolutely enormous. It’s a very exciting time.” For more information on the Alauda Airspeeder Mk4 and the impending Airspeeder Racing Championship, check out the organisation’s official website below.
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
Airspeeder MK4 | Image: Alauda Aeronautics
