This Quadcopter Car Looks Like a Huge Drone and Really Flies 

The Chinese company XPENG makes both electric cars and flying machines and now they are working to combine them into one vehicle. XPENG recently tested a car that drives like usual and can also takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter. In fact, it looks like an oversized quadcopter drone strapped to the top of a car. Four arms swing out from a giant roof rack and lift the car into the air.

The XPENG X3, which we learned about from NPR, has both automatic and manual modes. A joystick joins the usual steering wheel while the car is in flight. These pictures come from XPENG’s Tech Day video where the company showed off the prototype (above) and concept model (below) for its X3 flying car. There’s no news about when it might be available to the public. Even though the dream is to go from sitting in traffic to flying above it, XPENG says it’s not that simple. The X3 requires space in order to take off so drivers won’t be able to convert it for flight right there on…