Named after the 1950s cartoon set in a future in which George Jetson and his family would scoot around the skies of Orbit City, Swedish company Jetson has developed the ONE, a four-rotor single seat aircraft that costs US$ 92,000, has a 102 km/h top speed, and can carry a 95 kg passenger for up to 20 minutes. That kind of battery life makes even a used Nissan Leaf seem look like an intercontinental touring machine, but the ONE is designed for short bursts of fun, can be charged in an hour using 230/240 V power (two hours using 110 V) and the batteries can also be swapped to minimize downtime.
Incredibly, it is currently perfectly
legal to fly the Jetson ONE in the U.S. without any training or pilot’s license
because it’s classified as an ultralight aircraft. But the company’s founder
and Chief Technical Officer, Tomasz Patan, says anyone buying one will get a
two-day training course at one of the company’s experience centers, where
they’ll be given a course covering flight regulations and
how to fly the craft.
There are also a few safety features to
help keep you out of trouble, including Lidar sensors for obstacle avoidance,
like you get on the autonomous Mercedes S-Class, an auto-hover function for use
in emergencies, plus a rapid-release parachute. Jetson also says the 86 kg machine is capable of flying safely even if one of its motors fails.
Speaking to Autoweek, Patan described the
ONE as a flying sports car and said that while it was conceived as a recreation
device, the company’s next generation machines will be engineered to work as
proper transportation devices. A US$ 90,000 price might sound expensive for a toy,
but plenty of people are prepared to spend that much money on a track day
plaything, and Jetson has had enough interest to swallow up the entire 2022
production run. Get your name down now and you could bag one of just three
build slots available for 2023.
