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A small electric aircraft called the Lilium Jet has been drawing a lot of attention. It’s said to carry up to five passengers and cruise at close to 200 mph. The whole point of building it was simple: to escape road traffic altogether. We’ll go through what’s known about it so far, based on this report.
The Lilium Jet is essentially a flying car, with 36 small fans built into its wings. Despite its compact size, the company says it can carry five people and fly nearly 200 miles in an hour. Because it takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter, it doesn’t need a runway. The prototype has already completed test flights, though it isn’t ready for the public to buy just yet.
Those test flights have gone well. The two-seat “Eagle” prototype successfully transitioned from hovering in the air to forward flight, clearing some genuinely difficult engineering hurdles along the way. With the design now proven to work as intended, the company plans to move ahead with a five-seat version of the flying car — one that could be used as an on-demand air taxi.
Traveling by Lilium Jet would be roughly five times faster than driving, which makes it especially appealing for congested big cities. As an example, a trip from Manhattan to JFK Airport would take only about 5 minutes by Lilium Jet, versus around 55 minutes by car. The Lilium Jet runs on electric jet engines, so it’s quieter than a conventional aircraft and produces no emissions.