Flying Cars Get Latest Innovation from Terrafugia (Video)
Terrafugia reveals its latest flying car model, the XF-T
There is no question that Terrafugia is in a league of its own. Why, no single car manufacturer has since developed the trailblazing concept of flying cars!
Terrafugia is a niche company for good reason. Their Transition Roadable Aircraft is the first of its kind enabling owners to drive along normal road traffic straight to an airport where the wings can be mobilized for take-off, and allow air travel within a range of 740 kms. or 460 miles.
Operating on a singular tank of regular unleaded gas, it can actually carry two people including luggages. The design of the production prototype was initially made public in July 2010 at Airventure Oshkosh.
And just recently, Terrafugia went a notch higher as they introduced their latest model called the Terrafugia XF-T. As shown in the video, the latest concept provides an improvement on the company's existing Transition vehicle by "offering helicopter-like rotors, which allow the XF-T to take-off and land vertically."
As the US-based folks behind Terrafugia would say, flying the XF-T "should be statistically safer than driving a modern automobile." That's partly due to the fact that it enables owners to "automatically avoid other air traffic, bad weather, and restricted and tower-controlled airspace".
The only thing missing now is the definitive date for Terrafugia's Transition vehicles to be on sale. There has been a significant delay despite the approval already granted by the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. With both agencies giving their nods, this means there's no stopping the Transition vehicles in breaking out the market, although in most likelihood not in high volume production.
Hopes are up that the same commitment to the Transition vehicle will be given to the XF-T.
Terrafugia was founded by graduates of the Department of Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduates of the MIT Sloan School of Management.
It was incorporated in May 2006 with CEO and founder Carl Dietrich investing largely in the initial funding.