Kalashnikov show off their first ever hoverbike

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By Matthew Griffin Future Transport 7th October 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Kalashnikovs new hoverbike has civilian and military use cases but most people will just want one to commute in.

Last week Kalashnikov, makers of the famous AK-47 and part of the Russian defence giant Rostec, announced that it’s branching out into what it calls “Rideables,” and for their first act they’ve produced an actual, working hoverbike that, admittedly, looks like a giant quadcopter.

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Officially though the company is calling their new hoverbike a flying car, which, frankly doesn’t make any sense, and at the moment it’s unclear why they would want to dumb down such a magnificent sci-fi vehicle.

Just say “Cool”

As you can see in the above video, there’s not much to it at the moment – just eight rotors joined together by a skeletal frame, a couple of joysticks, and what appears to be a couple of batteries located under the driver, and at the end of the video, you can see a shell or chassis superimposed over the vehicle, which gives you a better sense of how Kalashnikov might commercialise it.

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After decades of being out of vogue and being labelled “crazy” or “stupid” or both it looks like flying cars, albeit mainly in the form of flying passenger drones, like the ones that are about to enter service in Dubai, are making a comeback with companies like Airbus, who recently showed off their concept, Chinese company EHang, and Uber, among many others all racing to build the first flying cars, taxis or whatever you want to call them, and create the first flying taxi networks.

So, finally, for those of you who are willing to loose an appendage or two, your day in the sun is arriving. Time to get those orders in.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.