![Model A Alef Aeronautics Airworthiness certificate](https://dronelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Alef-e1689789327453-300x175.png)
by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNabb
In a big step forward for private air mobility, San Mateo-based flying automobile company Alef Aeronautics recently announced that its “Model A” vehicle has received a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA. While the “Special” certificate limits the areas and purposes for which the Model A can fly, that is the primary time a vehicle on this class has received legal approval for flight. Of their press release, Jim Dukhovny, the CEO of Alef, said, “We’re excited to receive this certification from the FAA. It allows us to maneuver closer to bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute, saving individuals and firms hours each week. That is one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,”
The Model A, set to start production in 2025, is one in all the highest-profile eVTOLs with on-the-road functionality, making it a uniquely flexible approach to the advanced air mobility space. With a road range of around 200 miles, plus 110 miles within the air, the Model A is each an all-wheel drive, road-legal 2-seater and a fully-fledged eVTOL, with advanced stabilization and safety technology including triple-to-octo redundancy of all key components and real-time thousand point diagnostics, pre-flight reject start diagnostics, obstacle detection, and avoidance.
Since emerging from stealth in late 2022, Alef has been garnering significant buzz for its recent design, with support from people like Tim Draper, an early Tesla and Google investor. The Model A is out there for consumer and business preorder at a $300,000 price point, and Alef announced that they’d sold 440 of them as of January, with a big portion going to an unnamed Hong Kong-based mobility company. Meanwhile, the FAA has continued to explore the Advanced Air Mobility space, recently attending an indication from Archer Aviation, showing the vital role regulators play within the evolution of the rapidly-evolving recent sector.
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