The real-life Jetsons! Hydrogen-powered flying taxi completes a record 561-mile journey over California - with no emissions except water
From the Jetsons to Blade Runner, flying cars have long been a classic trope of science fiction blockbusters.
But science fiction has officially become reality, as a real-life flying taxi has completed a record 561-mile (902km) test flight over California.
To put that into perspective, that's about two times as long as The Grand Canyon.
The flying car is the brainchild of Joby Aviation and is fueled by hydrogen, meaning it produces no emissions other than water vapour.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said: 'Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without the need to go to an airport and with no emissions except water. That world is closer than ever.'
From the Jetsons to Blade Runner, flying cars have long been a classic trope of science fiction blockbusters.
But science fiction has officially become reality, as a real-life flying taxi has completed a record 561-mile (902km) test flight over California.
To put that into perspective, that's about two times as long as The Grand Canyon.
The flying car is the brainchild of Joby Aviation and is fueled by hydrogen, meaning it produces no emissions other than water vapour.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said: 'Imagine being able to fly from San Francisco to San Diego, Boston to Baltimore, or Nashville to New Orleans without the need to go to an airport and with no emissions except water. That world is closer than ever.'
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TechTranscript
00:00Exciting day of flying, over 300 miles of flight achieved, 400 miles of flight achieved.
00:24The team behind me is about to demonstrate something that has never been shown before.
00:28A long endurance flight on a liquid hydrogen electric propulsion aircraft that takes off and lands vertically.
00:35They have been working at this for a very long time across all aspects of the aircraft design,
00:40the fuel cell and storage architecture, as well as the development of the software and hardware that's in it.
00:48I can't wait to see it fly.
00:50The aircraft we are preparing to fly today is actually one of our pre-production prototypes
00:54that has already flown more than 25,000 miles purely on batteries.
00:58Electric is the right answer for operating air taxis in cities and suburbs.
01:02But to look at longer range regional flights, we turn to hydrogen.
01:06With the hydrogen system, we reduce the weight of the batteries on board
01:10and add a hydrogen fuel tank designed and built by Joby, which stores up to 40 kilograms of liquid hydrogen.
01:18That hydrogen is then converted into a gas to feed the fuel cell system,
01:22which has been designed and built by the team at H2FLY.
01:41More than 500 miles. World record.
01:45This is an incredible moment.
01:49Our goal at Joby has always been to make traveling by air as accessible, clean and quiet as possible.
01:55Hydrogen gives us the opportunity to unlock regional journeys of up to 500 miles from city center to city center
02:02with no need to go out to an airport and no emissions except water.
02:06While the technology is still at an early stage,
02:09demonstrating our hydrogen electric aircraft will mark an important breakthrough moment for aviation
02:14that will let Joby continue to connect the world without sacrificing our future or this beautiful planet.