Recently, GAC announced that its flying car, GOVE, has officially been granted a special flight permit for civil unmanned aerial vehicles by the Civil Aviation Administration of China's Southern Regional Administration. This marks a significant step forward for GAC's flying car in terms of airworthiness certification and commercialization.
Generally, before mass production, flying cars must undergo a complex airworthiness certification process. This includes project application, compliance verification, obtaining a type certificate (TC), and receiving an airworthiness certificate. Following that, additional licenses such as production and operation permits are required before entering large-scale commercial use.
The application for the special flight permit for GAC's GOVE flying car was conducted in accordance with the "Management Procedures for Airworthiness Certification of Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" (AP-21-AA-2022-71).
At present, GAC's GOVE flying car has completed numerous tests and verifications, including endurance testing of the power system, multi-power testing, iron bird testing, static testing, tethered flight testing, hovering flight testing, chassis takeoff testing, and performance validation. In the next phase, GAC will continue to promote technical upgrades and engineering developments for its flying car, accelerating product rollout and airworthiness certification.
The GOVE flying car is a fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) multi-rotor vehicle independently developed by GAC Research Institute. It adopts an amphibious configuration, where the flight pod and intelligent chassis can be separated. Similar to Xpeng's HT Aero's split flying car "Land Aircraft Carrier," it optimally utilizes three scenarios: ground driving, aerial flight, and air-ground docking. Its application scenarios include emergency rescue, aerial inspection, sightseeing tours, and short-distance commuting. The chassis of the flying car serves both as an intelligent take-off and landing platform and a mobile charging station.
According to GAC's previous plans, the company aims to launch a demonstration operation of flying cars by 2027, providing a fully integrated "multi-point-ground-to-air" smart mobility service across 2-3 cities in the Greater Bay Area.
Additionally, GAC plans to introduce a compound wing flying car by the end of the year. Unlike the multi-rotor flying car designed for short-distance flights, the compound wing flying car can be used for cross-city travel, covering distances of up to 150 kilometers within the Greater Bay Area.
