/ 29 October 2021

Holy hoverbikes

Image source: ALI Technologies
Image source: ALI Technologies

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It could be a hoverbike with tech start-up ALI Technologies launching its new model earlier this week. Costing a cool $900,000 a pop, the Mitsubishi-backed company’s inventions can fly for 40 minutes at speeds up to 100km/h on a single charge. Kicking off in Japan, the company says the flying machines could offer a solution to congestion in Tokyo if it gets some cars off the roads. Japan’s current laws ban hoverbikes from flying over busy roads, but ALI boss Daisuke Katano hopes they will be taken up by rescue teams to help them reach inaccessible areas. It still seems like science fiction, but analysts say the flying vehicle industry is starting to take off. The industry could be worth as much as US$1.5 trillion by 2040, they say. That’s a lot of zeroes…

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