General Motors unveiled a futuristic flying Cadillac on Tuesday – an autonomous vehicle that takes off and lands vertically and carries the passenger through the streets and through the air.
A senior GM executive described the concept as “reimagining the future of personal transportation”.
The single-passenger Cadillac – technically, a vertical take-off and landing drone (VTOL) – will be able to travel from one urban roof to another urban one at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour.
It is completely autonomous and fully electric, with a 90kW motor, GM Ultium battery and ultralight body with four pairs of rotors.
The flying Cadillac was featured in a video as part of a virtual presentation by Chief Executive Mary Barra, along with a family Cadillac electric bus.
Barra revealed last year that the automaker was exploring alternative means of transportation such as air taxis.
The concepts in the CES video were introduced by GM design chief Mike Simcoe, who described the VTOL as “the Cadillac for urban air mobility”.
“VTOL is the key to GM’s vision for a multimodal future,” he said.
The Cadillac autonomous bus, described in the video as “coming soon”, features a square silhouette reminiscent of Cruise Origin, also designed by Simcoe’s team. It has sliding front and rear doors and a panoramic glass roof.
The cabin has lounge-shaped seats, in addition to biometric sensors, voice control and recognition of manual gestures.
GM declined to disclose further details.
Other automakers, including Toyota Motor, Hyundai Motor and Geely Automobile, had previously shown conceptual aerial vehicles as part of their future planning.
GM shares rose 6.2 percent to $ 47.82.