Every time I reread this essay I'm both amused by the wry, good-natured humour, and inspired by the incisive way David Graeber exposed that the emperors of capitalism wear no clothes;

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit

We lost you far too soon David. #RIP

#DavidGraeber #FlyingCar #JetPack

Dream I had recently: driving a 2 seater car (one seat behind the other) in town for shopping. Then autopilot kicked in, and the car drives inside a helicopter-like vehicle, and locks in. And then it takes off & takes us home, away from the city.

I believe that's the right way to do a "flying car". By having an actual car for the "last mile", and automation for the flying part. Never have to leave the car!

But all that require a propulsion breakthrough

#electriccars #flyingcar #ai #helicopter

Xpeng’s flying car just got real — and the future is annoyingly expensive

Dear Cherubs, China’s flying-car circus has moved from shiny prototype to something far less imaginary. Xpeng’s Land Aircraft Carrier, the modular road-and-air machine from its flying-car arm now known as Aridge, has been pushed through public demonstrations, trial production, and a growing pile of orders that suggests people really do want traffic to stop existing.

THE PITCH

According to XPENG, the Land Aircraft Carrier is designed as a two-part system: a six-wheel ground vehicle that carries and supports a detachable electric aircraft module. The company says the project is meant to combine everyday driving with vertical takeoff and landing, which is either the future of mobility or the most expensive way to avoid a red light. XPENG’s own materials say the broader flying-car program has been in development for years, with the Land Aircraft Carrier framed as a modular leap rather than a one-piece sci-fi gimmick.

The headline-grabbing numbers are doing a lot of work here. The company has said the vehicle can reach a top air speed of about 360 km/h, cover more than 1,000 kilometers in combined ground and air use, carry four to five passengers, and cost under 2 million yuan, or roughly $280,000 to $290,000 depending on the exchange rate and how much optimism is in the room. XPENG also said it had more than 7,000 pre-orders by late 2025 and early 2026, helped by a 600-unit Gulf order that the company presented as a major international breakthrough.

WHY PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT

The reason this thing keeps making headlines is not just the gadget factor. It is the timing. China is pouring energy into what it calls the low-altitude economy, and XPENG has been loudly positioning itself as one of the first companies to turn that policy mood into hardware you can actually point at. Reuters reported an earlier Xpeng flying-drone test flight in Guangzhou in 2024, and by 2025 the company was openly describing the Land Aircraft Carrier as heading toward mass production and delivery in 2026.

Still, there is a gap between “looks real on video” and “your neighbor parks one outside the building.” Certification, airworthiness approval, operational rules, pilot training, insurance, charging, landing infrastructure, and public safety all remain very real hurdles. XPENG itself has acknowledged that mass production depends on certification and qualification steps, which is a polite corporate way of saying the sky has paperwork too.

For now, the Land Aircraft Carrier is less a finished transport revolution than a signpost. It shows that flying cars have finally escaped the land of filtered concept art and entered the much messier world of factories, regulators, and people asking, with a straight face, whether this thing is actually going to work. Hot take: that alone is progress.

Sources list:
XPENG Newsroom — https://www.xpeng.com/news/01992787505898ee96718a028110008c
Reuters video: Xpeng’s flying car takes test flight in China — https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinas-xpengs-drone-car-aeroht-voyager-x2-completes-low-altitude-flight-2024-03-08/
Reuters: Chinese flying car makes first public flight in Dubai — https://www.reuters.com/technology/chinese-flying-car-makes-first-public-flight-dubai-2022-10-11/
TopGear — https://www.topgear.com/car-news/tech/beam-us-xpeng-has-7000-orders-its-bonkers-land-aircraft-carrier
CnEVPost — https://cnevpost.com/2024/09/03/xpeng-aeroht-to-start-delivering-modular-flying-car-2026/
Guangdong government news repost of China Daily — https://info.newsgd.com/node_73b7112307/2dc013a6c4.shtml
thisclaimer.com — https://thisclaimer.com