Cars that can take flight in FOS Future Lab

As cars up to 100 years old thundered up the hill outside, visitors to FOS Future Lab at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard revelled in a future world where race cars can drive themselves, supersonic flight is a fact of life (again) – and cars can fly. 

The flying cars really caught the imagination of people of all ages who gave FOS Future Lab – with its array of interactive games and virtual reality experiences – a big thumbs up as the Festival’s newest and intriguing new attraction. 

So which flying car for you? Here’s our round up…

Dominating the FOS Future Lab space is the innovative ItalDesign Pop.Up developed with Airbus Industries and hanging from FOS Future Lab’s roof after making its world debut at the Geneva show four months ago. 

It’s a modular concept that comprises a two-seat passenger capsule that couples with a ground module (like an electric car) or an air module. This is the flying machine part of Pop.Up with four rotors, vertical take-off and landing, and 62mph top speed.

It is all electric and drives, or flies, itself to wherever you want via artificial intelligence, seamlessly linking with other modes of transport if your journey requires it.

It’s not just ingenious but it looks brilliant too, as you would expect of ItalDesign, which says Pop.Up is a “vision for seamless, multi-modal, fully electric urban mobility.” 

If that doesn’t take your fancy what about the British designed and built “quadcopter” NeoXCraft. This is a concept for a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) machine for private owners. There is also PAL-V ONE (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) which combines a gyrocopter with tricycle undercarriage and is already available to order. 

Looks like flying cars are ready for take off!

Also on show at FOS Future Lab is a model of a new-generation supersonic airliner from Boom Supersonic that aims to be faster than Concorde. Boom Supersonic is also showing a model of Solar Impulse 2 which has already made history: by completing the first round-the-world flight by a solar-powered aeroplane last July.

Photography by Toby Adamson