On September 14th, GAC announced that its flying car, GOVE, has officially obtained the Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Special Flight Certificate issued by the Central South Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, marking a further step forward in the airworthiness certification and commercialization of GAC's flying car.
Generally speaking, before mass production, flying cars need to go through a complex airworthiness certification stage, including project application, compliance verification, obtaining type certificate (TC), obtaining airworthiness certificate, etc. After that, they need to further obtain production license, operation license, etc., in order to truly enter the stage of large-scale commercial use.
It is reported that the application for the GOVE charter flight certificate of Guangzhou Automobile Group is in accordance with the "Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Airworthiness Certification Management Procedure" (AP-21-AA-2022-71).
At present, GAC Flying Vehicle GOVE has completed a large number of tests and verifications, including power system durability test, multi power test, iron bird test, static test, aerial mooring test, hovering flight test, chassis takeoff test, performance verification, etc. In the next stage, GAC will continue to promote the upgrading of flying car technology and engineering landing, accelerate product landing and airworthiness certification.
The GAC Flying Vehicle GOVE is a pure electric vertical takeoff and landing multi rotor flying vehicle independently developed by GAC Research Institute. It adopts a land air amphibious configuration, where the flight cabin and intelligent chassis can be separated, similar to the split type flying vehicle "land carrier" of Xiaopeng Huitian. It can achieve optimal utilization in three major scenarios: ground driving, aerial flight, and air ground docking. Its application scenarios cover emergency rescue, aerial inspection, tourism and sightseeing, short distance commuting, etc. The chassis of the flying car serves as both an intelligent takeoff and landing platform and a mobile charging station.
According to GAC's previous plan, GAC will launch a demonstration operation plan for flying cars in 2027, achieving a full chain three-dimensional intelligent travel service of "multiple stations ground transportation air transportation" in 2-3 cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.
In addition, GAC Group also plans to "launch" composite wing flying cars within the year. Unlike multi rotor flying cars suitable for short distance flights, composite wing flying cars can be used for cross city travel of 150 kilometers in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.