Samson Motors has joined the race to have the first flying cars in the skies, with the world’s first 200mph (320km/h) flying sports car, dubbed the Switchblade.
The Switchblade can cruise at an altitude of 13,000 feet and at a top speed of 200mph and is fitted with a safety parachute.
Samson Motors claims the car will be ready for launch in spring 2018, with prices starting at £90,000 ($120,000).
The Switchblade is a three-wheel car, designed by Oregon-based Samson Motors.
The car has two seats, and on the ground is 5.1 metres long.
But it also has extendable wings and a retractable tail that fold out, taking the car’s length to 6.2 metres, meaning it can be used both on the road and in the sky.
On the ground, the Switchblade’s top speed is 100mph (160 km/hour), while in the sky it can reach speeds of 200mph (320 km/hour).
Unlike vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles, the Switchblade can’t takeoff from the road, and will need to be flown from regular airports.
A spokesperson for Samson said: ‘You can drive the Switchblade to any public airport to take off, and may land at the same, or any other, public airport.
‘You can also take off and land from any private airport where you have privileges.’
In terms of engine, the Switchblade is powered by a 190bhp liquid-cooled 1.6-litre V4 engine, which gives the car a range of around 450 miles from the 113-litre fuel tank.
And while the current version uses unleaded petrol, Samson is already looking ahead to other options.
The Samson spokesperson added: ‘We have already finished layouts for both hybrid, and electric drive systems pending on an appropriate battery solution.’
The car is kitted out with a range of features, including a sound system, reversing camera and a digital instrument display.
Various safety features are also included, such as a parachute for the whole car, rollover protection and crumple zones in the front and rear.
Three versions of the car exist – the Snowbird, for colder climates, the Trek, designed for heavy-duty landing, and the Aurora, which combines the Snowbird and Trek.
Samson says that prices will start at around £90,000 ($120,000).
But it isn’t quite as simple as buying the car and setting off on a journey.
A private pilot’s licence is required to fly it, and a full driving licence is needed to operate it on the roads.
And bizarrely, due to its classification as an experimental/homebuilt vehicle, US law dictates that 51 per cent of the vehicle must be built by the owner.
Thankfully, Samson says this can be completed in three weeks at a Samson Build Assist Centre.
Samson is in a race with more than a dozen well-funded European and US firms, each with its own science fiction-inspired vision for creating a new form of urban transport that is a cross between a driverless electric car and a short-hop, vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
These include aerospace giant Airbus, which aims to put a self-piloting taxi in the air by 2020; Kitty Hawk, a company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page; and Uber, which is working with partners on its own flying taxi strategy.
