The Xpeng Land Aircraft Carrier is a modular 'flying car' that combines an electric minivan with a folding eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) that rolls out from the back. Mark had a chance to sit in the cockpit of this exciting combo that's coming in 2026 for a price under $300,000 and speak to Tan Wang, co-founder and vice president of Xpeng Aeroht to get a full tour at CES 2025.
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00:00I'm coming to you live inside a cockpit of an YVTOL, which is actually coming to market in China in 2026.
00:28It's going to be in mass production before you know it.
00:30And this is unlike any autonomous vehicle that you've ever seen, and not just because it has propellers.
00:36So I'm here with the CEO, Wang Tong, who's going to give us a walkthrough of some of the controls that are right in front of us.
00:43And maybe just start with who you feel like the target audience is of this device.
00:48Yes, it's a good question.
00:50I think that actually we have, we think about overall view, the human being is a three-dimension animal.
00:58But the transportation actually is a little bit two-dimension, right?
01:03Even we have the subway, we have the bridge, but if we think about how to solve the problem like the conjures, like the traffic jam, so we need to have, you know, the low altitude flying car.
01:19Like the giant vehicle showed that we have a six-wheel setup and with six-wheel, all-wheel drive.
01:26And the two differential lock on the rear two exhausts, it can go a little bit off-road.
01:34So I think someone who, like, go off-road, go outside, go wild, they will buy this car.
01:41So in a way, this could be, like, the next step for recreational vehicles, where a lot of times when people get to their destinations, they'll send up a drone to get, like, the best view of what they're seeing.
01:50Imagine in the future where you could actually be in the driver's seat and seeing things above you from a completely different perspective, and you're in total control.
01:59If we're taking a look at the controls here, you can see that there is a built-in joystick, but what I like is that the autonomy and the AI that's built in, you'll be able to, let's say, touch your destination, and it'll automatically take you there.
02:13But in terms of the controls, if you were to take them over, how would you, like, take off and land, for example?
02:18Yeah, this is, we call it a single-stick control system.
02:23Just use one joystick, and if you want to take off, just use your thumbs, just push up, and it can fly.
02:32And once you're landing, you can do like this, so it's super easy to learn.
02:41You might be wondering how you're going to get this air module around.
02:44You know, behind me, we have what's called the mothership, and this kind of looks like the Cybertruck makes it look like a wimp, in terms of how big this thing is.
02:51But again, it has the air module on the inside, and it has enough power for about six charges, so you can fly around, come back to the mothership, get juiced up, and then go back out for another couple of hours.
03:04And there's some other cool features that are built in.
03:06So, for example, on the left and right-hand side here, we have, instead of a side-view mirror, there's a side-view camera that pops out from the side.
03:15And in the back, there's a transparency window, so you can see out, so other people can't see in.
03:20As we take a look around this vehicle, you can see why the mothership more than lives up to its name.
03:24And then in terms of the range, you know, we've been talking about, okay, so how far can you go on a charge?
03:29The battery life as of right now, because I think the primary thing right now for this company is safety, right?
03:35So you can go about two hours or so on a charge, and it's about max 90 kilometers per hour, which is about, you know, 50 miles an hour.
03:44But you're not going to go that fast because it's going to drain the charge a little bit too fast.
03:49So let's say you would go, like, what, maybe like 20 to 25 miles out max?
03:53Actually, it can fly tens of miles.
03:57But one thing is very important that we use the mothership, I mean, the mothership to charge for this air module.
04:05Yeah.
04:05It costs less than 20 minutes.
04:08Less than 20 minutes to charge?
04:09Yes, because we use the 800-voltage system.
04:13Okay.
04:13So as long as you come back to the mothership, you could then, you know, get back home.
04:18And that whole thing together, is that what we're saying would be about 300,000 or so?
04:23It would be this plus the car?
04:26Yes.
04:27The air module plus the grand module together, we say, this morning.
04:32Okay.
04:33So are you a Transformers fan of the cartoon?
04:36Yes.
04:37Yes.
04:39Do you feel like we're almost there?
04:41We're almost there, I think.
04:43But I do believe the future is coming.
04:55Overall, I think the Eftol from X-Ping definitely is one of the most exciting gadgets here at CES 2025.
05:02And I think it points the way towards a future where we're going to be a lot more in control about where we go and how we get there.
05:08For more videos from CES 2025, make sure you go to YouTube and check out Tom's Guide and follow us across all of our social channels at Tom's Guide.
05:17I'm Mark Spoonout.
05:18I'm Mark Spoonout.