Filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the South Korean automaker wants to combine two of its former zany ideas into one wild package. This new two-vehicle system is essentially a Hyundai walking car with one of its flying cars pasted to the top.
According to Hyundai, ground and air vehicles both have limitations, and this odd creation solves all their problems. Air vehicles can easily travel through the air, but they have limited or nonexistent ground-based movement. Ground-based cars, like the Ioniq 5, are restricted to terra firma.
The solution, says Hyundai, is cooperative transport. This brings us neatly to the odd creation you see here: a ground-based vehicle that can attach to an oversized drone. The drone has to be sizeable because it needs enough juice to be capable of transporting the ground-based vehicle through the air. Once this odd combination lands, the ground-based vehicle will transport the drone to places it can't reach.
This new system has benefits beyond simply picking a car up and flying it a few hundred miles down the road. And it wouldn't be hampered by range because Hyundai specifically mentions alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, or fuels derived from resources other than petroleum. Both ground and aerial vehicles can be powered by any of the vast powertrain options Hyundai currently has at its disposal.
The drone attached to the ground-based vehicle can serve as a mobile charging station for electric vehicles, providing a solution for EV owners who don't have access to home charging facilities.
The concept is also useful for transporting goods, as the ground-based vehicle can have a detachable pod for carrying cargo, which can be quickly transported over long distances by the aerial drone. The flying part of the car can scan areas and provide solutions that the ground vehicle's limited view cannot see, making it beneficial for driving in challenging conditions.
Source: Carbuzz