Tired Of Riding In Traffic? This Bike Lets You Fly Over It

With electric two-wheelers becoming somewhat mainstream, the future of personalised mobility has a new meaning, and it involves personalised flying transport. And A.L.I. Technologies, a Japanese drone manufacturer backed by Mitsubishi, has taken a swing at this by unveiling the Xturismo flying bike or hoverbike. 

Now, by no means does this actually resemble a motorcycle, but the ‘bike’ in its name is primarily because it has a handlebar and the ergonomics are similar to that of a motorcycle. To be frank, though, it actually looks more like a spacecraft out of a Marvel movie or a Star Wars-esque speeder bike, rather than anything from planet Earth. 

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So how does this 300kg, almost-four-metre long hoverbike fly? Well, it uses around seven rotors, which generate vertical thrust and are powered by an internal combustion engine along with four electric batteries. While the full specs haven’t been revealed, the company claims the Xturismo can reach 100kmph and hover for around 30-40 minutes in one go. For the environmentalists out there, the company plans to roll out an all-electric hoverbike soon. 

Now we didn’t expect this to be ‘affordable’, but at a whopping Rs 5.5 crore (in Japan), the Xturismo costs more than an average four-bedroom apartment in India. But even at this price, A.L.I. Technologies aims to sell around 200 of these in 2022. The biggest advantage of this will be the ability to go anywhere regardless of the terrain, since there isn’t any contact with the ground.

Meanwhile, all we can hope is that this doesn’t lead to traffic jams in the clouds...