9 . Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, the inventor Doc Brown announces “where we’re going, we don’t need roads as the car lifts into the air”. While flying cars aren’t yet filling our skies, many are in development. In October the Chinese XPeng X2 successfully completed the first public test flight of its two-seater flying car in Dubai.
The XPeng X2 lifts vertically off the ground using eight propellers (螺旋桨), without the need for a runway, and is therefore suitable for built-up city areas. The vehicle, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric and its makers say it can rise through the air at around two meters per second and then reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. The XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation — it can be set to self-drive. It learns how to avoid traffic, buildings and people. It does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions during flight and is a step forward in the pursuit of urban green transportation. It is suitable for future low-altitude city flights and is perfect for short-distance city journeys such as sightseeing and medical transportation.
Although the test flight lasted just 90 seconds, according to Dr. Liu, chief aviation specialist at Xpeng Aeroht, the technology is close to being ready for public use, but regulations on flying cars are still some way off. Liu believes that people will be able to use flying cars within limited regulated spaces in just five years. This lines up pretty well with the Chinese government’s plan to put flying taxis on the market by 2025. The self-driving function presents further difficulties with regulation and also throws into question public acceptance. Many people are worried about the safety issues around self-driving cars on the ground, let alone vehicles that are flying around above their heads. However, Peng says it is safer for its flying car to be self-driving than to be driven by a human.
There are lots of flying cars in development now around the world and many of them actually fly, like Opener’s “BlackFly”, SkyDriver’s “SD-03’’and Klein Vision’s “AirCar” — which made a successful 35-minute test flight between two cities in Slovakia in 2021.
1. Why does the author mention the 1985 sci-fi classic
Back to the Future?
| A．To introduce the topic | B．To recommend the movie |
| C．To provide background information | D．To make a prediction |
2. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?
| A．The popularity of XPeng X2. | B．The advantages of XPeng X2. |
| C．The limitation of XPeng X2. | D．The prospect of XPeng X2. |
3. What can we learn from the text?
| A．XPeng X2 can carry two passengers at a speed of 80miles per hour. |
| B．XPeng X2 is close to finishing the first public test fight. |
| C．XPeng X2 has already been launched on the market at present. |
| D．XPeng X2 has been widely accepted by the public now. |
4. In which section of a website may this text appear?
| A．Science fiction | B．Film review |
| C．Science & Technology | D．Historical events |
