LOS ALTOS, California — Pre-orders are now being taken for the ASKA, an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle designed for consumers.
The company has also opened the world’s first consumer flying car showroom. Located in Los Altos, the heart of Silicon Valley, the sales showroom features demonstration models of the ASKA and also functions as a learning center about urban air mobility, according to company officials.
The four-seater ASKA drives on the road like a car, is capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), as well as short takeoff and landing (STOL), and flies like an aircraft.
A special limited edition of ASKA is now available for preorder, priced at $789,000. Interested buyers can register at ASKA’s website to start the sales process. A $5,000 deposit is required to secure a place on the pre-order list, company officials note. The deposit will be held in an escrow account and is fully refundable, they add.
The price includes pilot training, customized interior/exterior design, and a personalized license plate.
Deliveries are expected to begin in 2026, following regulatory approval and certification, company officials add. ASKA’s development and flight testing are being conducted in accordance with FAA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) guidelines for certification.
Patent-Pending Design
The initial limited model of ASKA has a flight range of up to 250 miles powered by electric motors, and is equipped with a range extender as a “redundant safety system,” according to company officials.
The full electric system architecture of ASKA enables future models to convert range extenders to any other energy source, such as hydrogen, company officials add.
People can board ASKA — which is the size of a large SUV in drive mode — at their home, on the street or in a parking lot, and drive it like a regular car. To transition to flight mode, ASKA lifts off and lands vertically in a designated vertipad launch space. As the wings open, ASKA transitions to flight, programmed to the driver’s destination. Flying the vehicle will be made simple through semi-autonomous technologies, although pilot training will still be needed to operate ASKA in the air, company officials explain.
“We have focused significantly on ASKA’s safety elements, which include dual energy sources, large wings, large propellers, 6 pack of batteries to ensure ASKA is as safe in the air as it is on the ground. We anticipate that flying cars that are accessible to the general public will be as instrumental in re-defining how and where we live, as the original automobile was to the foundation of our country’s highway and road systems,” said Guy Kaplinsky, co-founder and CEO, of NFT, Inc.
Full scale flight demonstrations are expected to take place in 2022, added officials with the company, which is part of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign.
I agree, it may not be fraudulent. But is certainly is pointless and a waste of time and money.
In an article in the Independent—October 22, 1903, less than two months before the Wrights flew—Professor Simon Newcomb not only proved that trying to fly was nonsense, but went farther and showed that even if a man did fly, he wouldn’t dare to stop. “Once he slackens his speed, down he begins to fall…Once he stops, he falls a dead mass. How shall he reach the ground without destroying his delicate machinery? I do not think that even the most imaginative inventor has yet even put on paper a demonstrative, successful way of meeting this difficulty.”
To the poster above. I can see where it might be considered frivolous but I can’t see it as being fraudulent. If you have a moment would you mind explaining.
Thanks, Dave
Never ceases to amaze me how people can throw away money on ridiculous and fraudulent ideas