California flying car company Alef Aeronautics has received more than 440 of its first flying cars that will represent more than $132 million of revenue.
A part of these pre-orders represents an order by a large Hong Kong-based aviation technology company.
The company said that this represents a validation in the flying car market as opposed to the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
"Alef is aiming to deliver the first real flying car in history, and to receive so many early pre-orders is incredible validation of the market potential we're looking to satisfy," said Jim Dukhovny, Alef's CEO. "Further, we're extremely pleased to see orders from both individual and corporate consumers in such a short space of time after our unveiling. This is a great investment in the key sustainable transportation on the ground and in the air."
Unlike eVTOL air taxis that are designed to transport passengers from one point to another through the air, flying cars are capable of street driving and vertical take-off capabilities. They are also designed to fit into existing urban infrastructure such as garages and parking spots.
Alef said it plans to be the first car company to roll out commercially available flying cars, but it has a lot of competition in this realm as Pal-V has been developing its own flying cars for a number of years and has also started taking pre-orders. Additionally, Aska just unveiled its flying car at CES 2023.
Another company called AirCar debuted its first flying car a few years ago and successfully completed a 35 minute city-to-city flight.
