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One of the main reasons for having flying cars is to avoid the congestion of ground-bound traffic. And yet, with only two flying cars in the area on Tuesday, two flying cars ran into each other, sending one of them to the ground and bursting into flames.
The incident between two XPeng AeroHT flying cars happened during a rehearsal at the Changchun Air Show in Jilin, China. XPeng was preparing for a live demonstration of its eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) technology during five-day airshow that is set to begin on Friday.
A statement provided by Xpeng AeroHT informed CNN that the accident occurred due to “insufficient spacing” during a dual-aircraft formation drill. In the accident, one of the flying cars “sustained fuselage damage and caught fire upon landing.”
“All personnel at the scene are safe, and local authorities have completed on-site emergency measures in an orderly manner,” the statement continued. However, one person, a company employee who asked not to be named, said one of the pilots did sustain minor injuries. They also stated that the flying cars were performing high-difficulty stunts in close formation at the time of the accident. CnEVPost also reported that on-site spectators said at least one person was taken to the hospital with no immediate life-threatening injuries.
Xpeng AeroHT said the specific cause of the accident is under further internal investigation. The flying car that didn’t burst into flames was reportedly able to land safely.
The company is selling its X3-F flying car for $300,000 each. They are currently available for pre-order and expected to enter mass production in 2026. It has been suggested in some media reports that the flying cars that collided were the company’s X2 model.
How this accident will affect future sales remains to be seen. As does how accidents such as this one can be prevented when there are more than two of them flying in the same area at the same time.