Peter Vosper: Are you ready for flying cars?

I felt we needed some light relief with too much emphasis on what’s going wrong and not enough on what may arrive over the next 10 years to make our lives easier.

We are aware that autonomous cars are already here and will grow in volume over the next decade but what else is happening to excite us in the future. I can remember my father bringing home an amphibious car and then driving us across the Tamar from Plymouth to Saltash.

We drove down the slip adjacent to the car ferry straight into the water to the amazement of the people watching on land and aboard the ferry. They didn’t catch on unfortunately but this week I drove a luxury car from a Chinese brand, XPeng. However, this company has already become the largest flying car company in Asia and has produced the XPeng AeroHT which is already on the market and has 200 flying camps for people to take off and land. Their mission is “Freedom to Fly”.

Labour has said that the 2030s will see a new system that could change transport just as the train and car have done in the past. The skies will be open to flying taxis. In case you think this is another mad idea that will never come to fruition Labour are not the only ones thinking this way. Morgan Stanley estimates the market for eVtols- vertical take-off electric vehicles will be $1trillion by 2040 and $10 trillion by 2050.

Unlike helicopters these will be quiet, safe and multi-rotored. They are also likely to be cheap for public transport. The initial price point, probably for four person rides between Heathrow and central London, could be like the price of an individual getting a taxi. Like autonomous cars they will get bigger and fly driverless from city to city which will be quicker and more convenient than the current railway system and make additional use of small regional airports and reopen others like Bodmin and Plymouth.

Drivers are already fed up with traffic hold-ups, poor road systems and potholes and although the car will play a role in the local community to visit relatives, take children to school, and do the weekly shop, these flying machines will be the alternative for longer journeys.

If you are still cynical just have a look at the XPeng Aero HT on YouTube and prepare to be astonished at the capability already achieved. We may not like the way the pace of change is affecting us all but imagine seeing the first trains and then the private car taking over from the horse and imagine how those inventions appeared to the people of their day. It’s a real possibility and an exciting one.