- A European entrepreneur has developed a jet-powered flying bike.
- The 124 mph Volonaut Airbike is seven times lighter than a motorcycle.
- Its creator is the Polish engineer behind the $92,000 Jetson One drone.
The ability to split lanes, to drive between lines of cars in traffic, makes a motorcycle about the fastest way to get from one side of a city to the other. But the Volonaut Airbike is even faster, and comes without the very real risk of someone opening their door, or cutting into your path.
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Looking like a real-life Speeder Bike from Return of the Jedi, it’s the brainchild of Polish entrepreneur Tomasz Patan, who has a knack for creating crazy airborne personal transportation devices. He’s the guy behind the Jetson One, the quad-rotor eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) capable of carrying a human that you might remember from 2022.
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But while the Jetson One uses propellors like a giant DJI drone, the Volonaut Airbike is smaller and relies on some kind of jet power, though Patan is playing his cards close to his chest about the exact technical spec and propulsion system.
He did reveal, however, that the Airbike is capable of 124 mph (200 kmh) and that a “proprietary stabilization system enhanced by a flight computer provides automatic hover and ease of control for its rider.”
It also claims that the roofless, screenless shape gives a 360-degree view to help the rider “quickly become one with the flying machine and provides the sensation of complete freedom.”
The company’s website says it makes extensive use of carbon fiber and 3D printed parts to achieve a curb weight (or should that be cloud weight?) that’s seven times lighter than a typical motorcycle. Since the “average” bike might weigh something like 600 lbs (272 kg), that would make the Airbike an incredibly light 86 lbs (39 kg), though with rider that figure could triple.
Three videos on Volonaut’s website show the Airbike in action to give us a taste of what a flying motorcycle can do. The last one, playing on the similarity to the Star Wars Speeder Bike, features a rider dressed as a Stormtrooper, which might very well pique the interest of George Lucas’s lawyers.
Patan gave no firm details about when the Airbike might go on sale or how much it would cost, but did tell Robb Report that it was “highly probable” it would be available in the near future, promising that more details will be revealed soon.
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