Google co-founder’s flying car startup is likely to close

Yesterday, Kittyhawk, the flying car startup of Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, announced that the company is likely to have to stop operating due to many difficulties.

Larry Page’s “flying car dream” may soon be shattered. Photo: Getty Images.

Kittyhawk was invested and developed by Larry Page, co-founder of Google since 2010 under the name Zee.Aero. He hired Sebastian Thrun, who has worked on self-driving cars and conducted other experimental projects at Google, to build a prototype aircraft that uses propeller engines to take off.

In 2018, Kittyhawk introduced the Flyer flying car model that can carry one person and fly 20 miles. In an interview with CNBC earlier that year, Thrun said the model could be in use within the next five years. In 2019, the company said it had built a strategic partnership with aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

However, in 2020, Kittyhawk announced plans to discontinue the Flyer project and shift focus to the Heaviside electric aircraft.

A company representative confirmed that the future of Kitty Hawk will not affect the partnership of Aero and Boeing.

“Kitty Hawk’s decision to decommission will not affect Boeing’s commitment to Aero. We are proud to be a founding member of Aero and help drive innovation and global sustainability through the future of electric air travel. We hope that Kitty Hawk’s announcement will not affect Aero’s operations in particular and other activities in general in many ways.”

Currently, this startup has not announced the final decision on its fate. “We are still thoroughly studying our next steps,” the company wrote in a LinkedIn post.