GAC hopes Gove will be part of its integrated mobility solution in the future.
(Image credit: GAC)
Several automakers are exploring the field of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL), with automotive giant GAC Group being the latest.
GAC unveiled an eVTOL, called Gove, at a Tech Day event today, saying it has completed its maiden flight.
The name Gove is made up of the initials of the words GAC, On the Go, Vertical, and EV, and GAC hopes it will be part of its integrated mobility solutions in the future.
The eVTOL features a design in which the vehicle and chassis can be separated, with the two merging when driving on land and separating when flying in the air.
Gove is equipped with GAC's ADiGO-Pilot autonomous piloting system and has a dual backup multi-rotor flight system, GAC said.
Here is a video about Gove's flight shared by GAC on Weibo.
GAC is joining forces with research institutes in the aerospace field to build a cooperative ecosystem for flight technology, and is committed to creating a safe and reliable air travel corridor, said Wu Jian, president of GAC research institute.
The demonstration of Gove flying car is just the starting point, in the future it will build up GAC's travel solution together with Ruqi Mobility and Robotaxi, said Wu.
It is worth noting that Gove is very similar in design to the form of an eVTOL demonstrated by another Chinese team at the end of last year.
Beijing Institute of Technology said on November 19, 2022, that one of their teams had unveiled a two-seat engineering prototype of a manned flying car, the world's first such product with a split design.
The flying car consists of three separate modules: an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, an intelligent control cockpit, and an autopilot chassis, capable of driving on land and switching between airborne flight modes.
It is not clear if GAC's Gove is related to this product.
Over the past year, multiple teams have explored the eVTOL space, though the product form has largely been all-in-one.
A local company demonstrated an eVTOL shaped like a flying saucer at a low-altitude economy investment promotion event in Shenzhen, southern China, on June 3.
Xpeng Aeroht, a subsidiary of Xpeng, wants to make it possible to build a manned vehicle based on a car, and its X2 was tested on June 5 by flying over the Yellow River.
Ehang, for its part, is building an autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) close to a helicopter, and the company said last April that it received a pre-order for 100 EH216s from Indonesian airline Prestige Aviation.
On July 27, 2022, Volkswagen Group China unveiled its first eVTOL manned vehicle prototype, the V.MO, which is also close to a helicopter in appearance.
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