'Flying car' powered by drones invented in Spain

A BRAND-NEW 'aerotaxi', dubbed 'the drone of drones', has been designed, manufactured and equipped entirely in Spain and could hail the start of an eventual future 'flying car' trend.

The Umiles New Concept was created by Spanish firm Tecnicalia, and Umiles has now bought the patent.

These two companies will be working together to develop a new 'Urban Mobility' range of solutions, which have yet to be defined.

It was unveiled at the World ATM Congress and, according to its specifications, can cover a radius of 15 kilometres at present, on short flights of up to 15 minutes, reaching heights of between 100 and 300 metres – although it is capable of going up as high as 800 metres if safety and air-travel legislation and regulations permit.

Rather than being designed for personal ownership and use at present, the Umiles New Concept is more geared towards conventional taxi conveyance at the moment, replacing, or complementing, road-based cabs.

The aerodynamic passenger cabin is propelled by four drones, placed above and below it.

CEO of Umiles, Carlos Poveda, says the objective is to 'optimise public transport within built-up areas' and 'remedy the growing mobility problems experienced by the world's cities'.

It lands vertically, which means it takes up very little space when on the ground, and could well become the solution to traffic jams for later generations.

Umiles and Tecnicalia say they aim to roll it out in 'around 20 countries' within the next three years.