Will Real Flying Cars Beat Giant Drone Taxis?

This is the year that giant flying drones that can fly people are breaking through into flying taxi services. They are having deployment with paid rides and sales in UAE and Dubai. Dozens are being ordered and there could be fleets of 100 or more next year. There are significant sales in Brazil as well. They are like variations of multiple propeller helicopters with wings.

Giant drones have the advantage of being larger and more powerful versions of drones where tens of millions have been sold. They also use the wings and airframes that are similar to regular planes.

Eve Air Mobility, eHang, Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation are testing or deploying air taxi services to fly people with their systems.

Real flying cars can drive on regular roads and can fly. They are not commercial success in 2025. Unlike giant drone eVTOLs, which are scaling for taxi fleets, roadable flying cars remain in the prototype, pre-order, and early production stages. They face challenges like complex certifications (requiring both road and air approvals), high costs, and limited infrastructure for dual-mode use. No major commercial operations (e.g., taxi services or mass sales) are reported.

Alef flying car is leaders in roadable flying cars. They each have about 1000 orders. Mass production is supposed to start in 2025-2026. The costs are about $280,000 to $300,000.

Xpeng has a modular flying drone that launches from a car. Xpeng also has a flying car where the propellers deploy from the car. It is unclear how many sales Xpeng has for the propeller deploying car.

XPeng AeroHT (a subsidiary of XPeng Motors) is developing multiple eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) concepts marketed as flying cars.

Xpeng has the Land Aircraft Carrier which is called the X3-F or Modular Flying Car. This is a split-design vehicle consisting of a ground module (a six-wheeled, all-electric road-drivable van or truck-like carrier). It can launch a two-seater eVTOL “drone” that carries passengers. It is a hybrid system for urban air mobility and recreation. As of January 2025, over 3,000 pre-orders have been reported, with earlier figures showing steady growth. Xpeng is planning a $250 million IPO to fund the flying car spinoff.

The XPeng AeroHT X2 (aka eVTOL X2 or simply X2 Flying Car). This is the integrated two-seater eVTOL designed as a compact flying ca” with eight enclosed propellers (rotors) that deploy via folding arms for vertical takeoff and flight. It can reach speeds up to 130 km/h in the air with a range of about 35 minutes per charge.

It has been reported that the new Tesla Roadster should be demoed by the end of 2025 and it will have some flight capability and would be a primarily road capable car. It would likely use SpaceX developed jet technology instead of propellers.