The Jetson ONE is a type of personal aircraft known as an

eVTOL An electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft is a variety of VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft that uses electric power to hover, take off, and land vertically. This technology came about thanks to major advances in elec ...

. It is a 102-horsepower battery-operated aircraft with eight electric motors. The personal aircraft is produced by Swedish company Jetson Aero and it is manufactured and tested in

Arezzo, Italy Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

. To fly the single-seat aircraft, the operator does not need to have a pilot license nor have any special training. It is equipped with a parachute and it can operate even if one of its engines fails.

Background

In 2017 Tomasz Patan and Peter Ternström started Jetson Aero with the goal of "making everyone a pilot". In 2018 Patan designed a personal flying car. The design was improved upon and in 2021 Patan invented a new model called the Jetson ONE eVTOL. Jetson Aero, headquartered in Sweden, manufactures the Jetson One. In 2022 the company offered the Jetson Ones for US$92,000 each. In 2022 the company began manufacturing the Jetson One in Poland. In 2022 the company moved production and testing of the Jetson ONE from Poland to a facility in

. The CEO of the company is Stephan D'haene and he announced that the company obtained approval from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) to fly the aircraft in Italy's uncontrolled airspace. In 2023, the company announced that they had raised US$15 million to fund the project. They planned to begin delivering the next Jetson Ones in 2024.

Specifications

The aircraft will be powered by high discharge

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also see ...

and by eight electric motors which generate 102

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

. Battery powered flight time is limited to 20 minutes and there is a top speed of . The vehicle comes with a charger which can recharge in one hour at 230/240V or two hours with 110V power. Batteries may be removed and changed to avoid waiting for charging. The person piloting the aircraft must be less than . The individual motors powering the aircraft resemble drones. The aircraft can fly at an altitude of . It weighs and the fuselage is built of aluminum and a carbon-

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s ...

composite. It is being offered for US$98,000. The aircraft is capable of flight even if one of the engines fails. It is equipped with

lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...

sensors to avoid obstacles. There is a rapid-deploying ballistic parachute and the aircraft has a mode which allows the craft to hover without operating the controls. It is controlled by

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s, and it has a throttle lever to adjust power. The left controller operates the aircraft's altitude and the right controls the direction. The single-seat aircraft is considered a recreation vehicle and it is considered to be an

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

by the US

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, so it does not require that the operator get a pilot license or have special training.

Reception

A video that Jetson Aero posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

received 48 million views, and was featured on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second ite ...

''. The company attracted investors who included musical artist

Will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "Will-I-am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is the founding and lead member of the musical group Black Eyed Peas. ...

and Rikard Steiber. In October 2023, the American business magazine ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' announced, "Flying Cars Are Here, And You Can Buy This One For Less Than $100,000".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Jetson One
on YouTube VTOL aircraft Urban air mobility Personal air vehicles Vehicles introduced in 2021