On July 26, at the second China International Consumer Goods Expo (hereinafter referred to as "consumer goods Expo"), a "flying car" attracted onlookers.

Unlike ordinary cars, the four wheels of this flying car are replaced by four rotating propellers. Song Zhenxian, senior manager of Xiaopeng Huitian, told reporters that the flying car displayed by Xiaopeng Huitian this time is the fifth generation flying car, and the sixth generation flying car will be launched in the future, which will realize land and air dual-use. In 2024, mass production of land air dual-purpose flying vehicles will be achieved.

In fact, air vehicles such as flying cars can expand daily traffic to three-dimensional in the air, solve the problem of urban traffic congestion, and people's way of travel will undergo great changes.

"The field of 'flying car' is expressed in special language as UAM (urban air mobility), that is, urban air traffic." An Guangyong, an expert of the credit management committee of the all union mergers and acquisitions Association, told the Securities Daily that some institutions predict that the global market scale of UAM will reach US $1.5 billion in 2025 and expand to US $151 billion in 2035.

In the face of broad market prospects, many enterprises have competed to layout. There are "the first share of flying cars" Yihang intelligence specializing in this field in China; There are also car companies that have entered the market halfway, such as Xiaopeng and Geely. In 2020, Xiaopeng auto released its first ultra-low altitude flying car, traveller T1. This year, it was Xiaopeng traveller x2 that appeared in the consumer Expo; Geely laid out the field of flying cars by acquiring Terrafugia. In addition, SK Telecom of South Korea also said in July this year, "based on the experience of operating mobile communication infrastructure in the past 30 years, the service field of SK Telecom will be expanded from smart phones and the Internet of things to air flight."

"Flying cars have many advantages, first of all, environmental protection. This kind of car basically uses lithium batteries; second, the structure is relatively simple, and the price is much lower than that of traditional aircraft. In addition, compared with helicopters, flying cars are safer, less noisy, and cheaper to fly." An Guangyong said.

However, the development of flying cars still faces many problems. Zhang Xiang, Dean of the New Energy Vehicle Technology Research Institute of Jiangxi new energy technology vocational college, told the Securities Daily that flying cars are low altitude aircraft. Many cities have not opened low altitude flights, and consumers have no place to use them after buying them. In addition, the flight route is also a problem. The route of the flying car needs the approval of the air traffic control department, and the air management cost should be very high.

Guo Kun, general manager of Beijing Oriental fashion Airport Management Co., Ltd., told reporters that flying cars must be the development trend in the future, but there is no relevant industry standard in China.

Not only that, the profitability of flying car enterprises also faces great challenges. According to the annual report of Yihang intelligence for fiscal year 2021, the company achieved a revenue of 56.807 million yuan during the reporting period, a year-on-year decrease of 68.46%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was -314 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 258.32%. In 2021, Yihang intelligent sold and delivered a total of 30 eh216 series autopilot aircraft.

It can be seen that the flying car still has a long way to go. According to the prediction of toubao Research Institute, considering the development of UAM technology in China, it is expected that by 2025, flying cars will be the first to be widely used in short haul freight transportation.