industry news
Subscribe Now

Alef flying car receives limited FAA Special Airworthiness Certification

  • Alef unveiled its “Model A” flying car in October 2022 and has since received strong pre-orders from individuals and companies
  • Alef’s flying car is both road drivable on public roads and has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities
  • Alef is taking deposits for pre-orders for its “Model A” car for $300,000 on it’s website

SANTA MATEO, Calif.June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Alef Aeronautics, a sustainable mobility company that is designing and developing a flying car, announced today that it received a Special Airworthiness Certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, marking the first time a vehicle of this nature has received legal approval to fly from the US Government.

The FAA is actively working on its policies for electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, as well as governing interactions between eVTOLs and ground infrastructure. Alef’s Special Airworthiness Certificate therefore limits the locations and purpose for which Alef is permitted to fly.

Alef emerged from stealth in October 2022 with the unveil of its full-sized sports car model along with two working full-size technology demonstrator cars. It has since received strong pre-orders from both individuals and companies. Alef’s flying car is 100% electric, drivable on public roads and has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. The car will carry one or two occupants.

“We’re excited to receive this certification from the FAA. It allows us to move closer to bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute, saving individuals and companies hours each week. This is a one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,” said Jim Dukhovny, CEO of Alef.

About Alef: Alef, based in San Mateo, CA, is a sustainable electric transportation company designing and developing a road-legal passenger car capable of achieving vertical takeoff and forward flight. Alef was founded in 2015 by Jim DukhovnyKonstantin KislyPavel MarkinOleg Petrov in Palo Alto, California. Alef’s investors include Draper Associates, Impact VC, Draper B1, Bronco Ventures, Strong VC, Louis ScolaJim BoettcherJim HurdJason Gorrie, Chinney, Knollwood Advisory and others. Alef recently announced the opening of a new fundraising round. More information can be found at https://alef.aero.

Leave a Reply

featured blogs
Nov 12, 2024
The release of Matter 1.4 brings feature updates like long idle time, Matter-certified HRAP devices, improved ecosystem support, and new Matter device types....
Nov 13, 2024
Implementing the classic 'hand coming out of bowl' when you can see there's no one under the table is very tempting'¦...

featured video

Introducing FPGAi – Innovations Unlocked by AI-enabled FPGAs

Sponsored by Intel

Altera Innovators Day presentation by Ilya Ganusov showing the advantages of FPGAs for implementing AI-based Systems. See additional videos on AI and other Altera Innovators Day in Altera’s YouTube channel playlists.

Learn more about FPGAs for Artificial Intelligence here

featured paper

Quantized Neural Networks for FPGA Inference

Sponsored by Intel

Implementing a low precision network in FPGA hardware for efficient inferencing provides numerous advantages when it comes to meeting demanding specifications. The increased flexibility allows optimization of throughput, overall power consumption, resource usage, device size, TOPs/watt, and deterministic latency. These are important benefits where scaling and efficiency are inherent requirements of the application.

Click to read more

featured chalk talk

STM32 Security for IoT
Today’s modern embedded systems face a range of security risks that can stem from a variety of different sources including insecure communication protocols, hardware vulnerabilities, and physical tampering. In this episode of Chalk Talk, Amelia Dalton and Thierry Crespo from STMicroelectronics explore the biggest security challenges facing embedded designers today, the benefits of the STM32 Trust platform, and why the STM32Trust TEE Secure Manager is an IoT security game changer.
Aug 20, 2024
39,806 views