What It’d Take to Make ‘Flying Cars’ the Future of Racing

While advancements in self-driving cars continue apace (here’s one that tackles icy roads), flying cars, or something like them, are looking less like mere flights of fancy—or so Australian startup, Alauda Racing, would have us believe.

The Airspeeder Mark I, developed by Alauda over the past two years, looks like something out of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Technically a quadcopter—that is, essentially a large drone, like Dubai’s air taxis—the conveyance features a single seat for a human pilot and can allegedly reach speeds of up to 124 miles per hour and cruise at an altitude of up to 2 miles. With custom-made wooden propellers, an aluminum frame, and four electric motors that have a combined 268 horsepower, the “car” is piloted much like a traditional aircraft with joysticks that control pitch and roll and pedals for yaw and throttle.