GAC unveils futuristic car, eVTOL combo that has already completed maiden flight [Video]

During its Tech Day event in China, GAC Group has unveiled its latest all-electric integrated mobility solution – an eVTOL called Gove. This unique design consists of two separate vehicles that can operate together or independently in both the air and on land. Check this thing out.

Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd., better know as GAC Group, is a Chinese state-owned automotive conglomerate and the fifth largest manufacturer in the country for its segment. We at Electrek has especially covered the company’s EV sub-brand GAC Aion, as well as some of its joint ventures with other OEMs like Stellantis.

In addition to vehicles, GAC Group researches and develops other mobility solutions and their adjacent technologies such as EV fast chargers and now, electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicles.

As this nascent sustainable aviation segment continues to evolve from a fictional Jetsons episode to genuine plausibility, we’ve seen plenty of eVTOLs emerge in recent years. Development, manufacturing, and certification are already huge hurdles we’re watching startups around the world trying to overcome to take flight, and that’s only to get eVTOLs into operations.

Very few have already taken the technology a step further and tried to create flying cars. For example, we’ve seen XPeng’s eVTOL unit AeroHT actually completed a voyage with a car that can fly. Now, GAC has taken a new approach to the eVTOL with a detachable EV that can autonomously return to base while you zoom up into the clouds. Introducing Gove.

According to GAC, its new Gove eVTOL is a combination of initials for the words, “GAC, On the Go, Vertical, and EV” – everything its hyper-futuristic new machine represents. The company debuted the Gove in front of a crowd during its Tech Day Event earlier today, explaining it sees the Gove as an integral part of GAC’s mobility lineup in the future.

That process will assuredly take some time, as very few eVTOL developers have been certified to operate flights with passengers inside, let alone an electric aircraft with a car connected to it. No matter what country you’re in, there will be plenty of red tape to work through.

That being said, GAC appears to have the top half of the Gove in working order as the eVTOL has already completed its maiden flight outside of company headquarters. You can view that here.

The company explained that Gove has been designed with GAC’s autonomous ADiGO-Pilot system as well as a dual backup multi-rotor flight system. As you’ll see in the launch video below, the passenger sits within the eVTOL portion of the Gove as the vehicle beneath navigates autonomously.

In a not-so-distant future, we may be able to vertically take off from the roadway, leaving the car portion to safely return to its nearest GAC base autonomously. Based on traditional infrastructure alone, I’d wager that future is a ways away, but it is quite interesting to dream about and could at the very least offer a glimpse of where holistic, all-electric mobility is headed. See more below.