CES 2021: General Motors showcases autonomous flying Cadillac

General Motors has unveiled a flying electric Cadillac concept designed to carry a single passenger through the skies.

The electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, which is technically a giant drone, can fly between city rooftops at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour, the car maker announced during the online-only CES tech show.

Powered by a 90kW motor and a hefty battery pack, the eVTOL stays airborne thanks to four rotors that enable vertical take-off and landing.

As it’s fully autonomous, the aircraft does not require a human driver. Its cabin is built to house a single passenger as they are shuttled between locations.

Mike Simcoe, GM’s design chief, described the VTOL as “the Cadillac of urban air mobility,” adding the giant drone was “key” to the company’s vision for a “multi-modal future”.

While GM told its online audience an accompanying autonomous shuttle it showcased during its video keynote presentation was “arriving soon”, it did not confirm when, or if, the flying Cadillac would go into commercial production or wider sale.

Gigantic drones are a CES staple

CES, which usually takes place as an in-person event in Las Vegas, often plays host to outlandish flying vehicle concepts.

Helicopter manufacture Bell showed off a flying car concept at the 2019 show it said it hoped would be available to order via Uber as soon as the mid-2000s.

The Bell Nexus is a hybrid electric air taxi which uses six tilted ducted fans to fly and land vertically from the top of a building or from a launchpad, and the company’s first concept vehicle which could eventually be used as an Uber fleet.

Unlike the flying Cadillac, the Bell Nexus is capable of seating up to five people. While the flying vehicles would be initially flown by pilots, Bell hopes to ultimately automate the process.

The previous year computing giant Intel announced the Volocopter VC200 – a huge autonomous drone capable of seating two people, which it briefly flew without passengers inside the Monte Carlo Hotel during its press conference.

Then-chief executive Brian Krzanich called the machine “essentially a flying car”. 
“Imagine pulling out your phone, opening up a transportation app and summoning your own personalised ride by air taxi,” he added. “That sci-fi vision of the future is actually much closer than you might think.”

While not large enough to carry a person, Sony announced a new Airpeak quadrocopter drone equipped to carry a high-end Alpha camera for filming and capturing stills of landscapes at CES 2021.

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