It's your UDX Airwolf hoverbike. You don your lid, crank up your favorite tunes, and hover out of your garage before blasting off with all the youth and vigor you've ever known. Within seconds, you're doing 142 mph (230 km/h), speeding over traffic, stop lights, and police with radar like a Peregrine falcon on your way to your favorite canyons.
This is what Czech startup UDX is creating. A 430-hp (320-kW) motorcycle-esque eVTOL with "hummingbird-like" agility that seats two. It may look like a typical quadcopter, but what really sets the Airwolf apart from most other designs I've seen is the tilt rotors.
Each of its four ducted propellers can move independently. And those aren't just structural stanchions holding it all together. They're bonafide wings, meticulously designed and engineered to be effective enough in forward flight to generate roughly 50% of the lift needed to keep this hoverbike in the air.
All that lift means more efficient flight, which means less draw on the batteries, giving you a longer range than you'd have otherwise. The Airwolf should weigh in at a fairly hefty 639 lb (230 kg) but still go from 0 to 60mph (100 km/h) in three seconds with a 142 mph top speed. Neat.
The consequence of high maneuverability and speed with all that weight is an estimated 25-minute flight time and 41-mile (66-km) range ...
so neat. But what a half-hour that would be for enthusiasts of all types. It would be like living out your fantasies of being Maverick from , performing h.