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The Kitty Hawk flying car, a project of Google co-founder Larry Page, is expected to go on sale later this year. Picture: AFP PHOTO / Davis ELEN
AFTER years of rumours, Google co-founder Larry Page has finally unveiled his flying car — and the news is a bit of a shock.
Those imaging Page was fine tuning a futuristic flying family vehicle for the past few years will be in for a surprise with the revelation that the Kitty Hawk looks like the hybrid of a drone and a jet ski and could have the worst features of both.
For now you can forget about those dreamings of beating the morning rush hour and prepare for yet another noisy device to attack the serenity of a day on the water.
The driver, or pilot, sits on what is similar to a jet ski seat on top of a grid of netting that, presumably, protects the pilot from injuring themselves on the four-spinning propellers keeping the unit above the ground.
Page, in a statement to The New York Times, said “We’ve all had dreams of flying effortlessly. I’m excited that one day very soon I’ll be able to climb onto my Kitty Hawk Flyer for a quick and easy personal flight.”
This first version of the Kitty Hawk, that Page hopes might be available for sale by the end of a year, is a one-person vehicle that can only be flown over freshwater and in uncongested areas — so no buzzing people down a crowded beach and, also, no flying around on the school run or down to the shops for milk.
The good news for those hoping to one day have a flying car of their own is that the Kitty Hawk Flyer is, at least technically, an ultralight and does not require a pilot’s license.
At the Kitty Hawk FAQ site, the company says the price for the first commercially available vehicle will be announced closer to the expected launch date later this year.
In the meantime, it is selling membership at US$100 a pop to receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content and a US$2000 discount off the sales price when it is released.
