Alef Aeronautics, the company behind the world’s first fully electric flying car, the Model A, has been approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to commence testing to ensure that it’s safe and fit for purpose after having been granted a Special Airworthiness Certification. 

The car is a low-speed vehicle that on the road has a range of 200 miles (322km) and will fit into a regular garage. While none of that is particularly impressive today with electric cars being a dime a dozen, those cars can’t take off vertically into the sky. 

The flying range will be 110 miles (177km) and “can fly forward above the obstacles until a desired destination is reached [while] the driver and the cabin are stabilised by a unique gimbaled rotating cabin design.” 

The marketing is leaning very heavily towards avoiding the annoying obstacles on the road, primarily traffic jams. This makes sense, but it would also reduce your commute time being able to reach destinations as the crow flies. 

You can actually pre-order these now but avoiding the hassles of the road won’t come cheap being priced at $300,000 USD. 

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

The car was first unveiled in October and has reportedly a “strong” number of pre-orders.