It’s hard to fathom for a layman. But from garage to air it took the electric-powered Doroni Aerospace H1-X, a.k.a. “flying car,” just minutes to offer spectacular views of Biscayne Bay, PortMiami, Miami Beach and downtown Miami several hundred feet below.

Looming not far off to the northwest: the Seminole Hard Rock’s massive Guitar Hotel in Hollywood. Suddenly, it was easy to decide where to conclude this brief experiential trip.

With a few nudges of a joystick, the two-seat eVTOL descended gently and safely onto the roof, some 450 feet up.

Well, that was according to the flight simulator at Doroni’s headquarters in Pompano Beach.

Decades after The Jetsons, the animated TV sitcom that featured flying cars in the 1960s, developer-entrepreneurs are edging American commercial aviation toward the day when electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft will roll out of suburban garages for work commutes to downtowns, or shopping trips and dinner-and-movie dates in the suburbs.

Last year, Doroni founder and CEO Doron Merdinger made headlines when he became the first person to pilot a two-seat personal eVTOL in the U.S. He did it with a brief in-house liftoff of a predecessor prototype of the H1-X.

Last Sunday, with his company poised to raise a new round of funding to provide a financial lift for the H1-X buildout, Doroni opened its doors for a public demonstration. It’s taking “pre-orders” from the first 500 people willing to put up an initial $1,000 deposit. The anticipated retail price range: $350,000 to $450,000.

“Doroni’s mission is to offer a safety-centric, eco-friendly mobility option to the public, commonly referred to as ‘flying cars,’” the company said in a statement. “By enabling people to transport themselves intuitively within urban environments and between destinations at a fraction of the time possible with traditional automobiles, Doroni aims to transform the way we travel.”

From the U.S. to Europe and Asia, other companies are developing their own versions of electric flying vehicles, whether for personal travel, or for public transportation, military use, freight carriage or law enforcement and emergency medical services.

One company, Lilium of Munich, Germany, has secured 20 orders from a new Miami-based airline called UrbanLink, which announced last Monday that it intends to start flying a regional air commuter service among Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

During a presentation at Doroni’s warehouse, Merdinger said his company’s eVTOL will be a much better ride for all of those uses than any helicopter can produce.

“There is really not a comparison,” he said, “The helicopter is in constant vibration. It’s annoying.”

Once aboard a Doroni vehicle, “You are sitting on a cushion of air. It’s like sitting on a magic carpet. You are just floating on air. There is no motor, There is no combustion.  It’s all electric.”

Flying car commutes?

But will the H1-X and other craft like it become the future of daily air travel in a dense and congested metropolitan area such as South Florida?

Merdinger believes they can be, and says his H1-X can be configured not only for personal use, but for customized versions suitable for law enforcement, medical rescue services, the military and cargo delivery companies.

“I had a vision — a world without roads where you could live without traffic,” he declares on a promotional video.

The H1-X, he said,  “looks and feels breathtaking.”

The craft can carry 500 pounds, sports eight contra-rotating propellers for lift, and has two ducted fans for moving forward. Top speed is 120 mph. They can fit in a two-car garage.

“One push of a button and you’re up — floating in the clouds with a panoramic view of your surroundings,” Merdinger added on the video.

The two-seat H1-X evolved from an idea in 2017 that started with a vehicle that had only one seat and an open cockpit. But that first version fell short as a viable product for wide distribution.

The ensuing H1,  which was certified last year by the Federal Aviation Administration for test flights, underwent up to 70 tests inside Dorani’s facilities. And last July, with Merdinger at the controls, the aircraft rose in the company hangar in a test billed as the “the first-ever US manned test flight of a personal 2-seater eVTOL.”

The “more optimized” H1-X was unveiled in March. It needs its own FAA certification, a spokeswoman said, “as we are planning full scale outdoor flights with it showcasing the full specifications.”

“Our target is to submit the H1-X to the FAA for certification and proceed to mass production in 2026,” the company says in a circular for investors.

The airframe is being manufactured elsewhere by a partner Merdinger would not identify. “I cannot disclose at this point, but [it’s] in the U.S,” he  told reporters.

Merdinger emphasized that safety is a top priority.

It’s simple enough to operate, he said, for a youngster to be at the controls.

It is equipped with a parachute and has an anti-collision system that would prevent people from flying into buildings or other aircraft. If a pilot heads for restricted airspace, the vehicle will prevent the pilot from going there, Merdinger said.

Merdinger said the aircraft’s developmental journey started after he moved to South Florida from Israel 11 years ago with his wife and children on a talent visa, which according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is designed for people with “extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business, or athletics.”

Later, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

“Florida is considered to be the biggest aviation hub,” Merdinger said, explaining why he chose the Sunshine State. “We have the support of the state of Florida.”

In 2020, Space Florida, along with the Florida Venture Forum, awarded Doroni Aerospace a second-place finish in an all-virtual Aerospace Innovation and Tech Forum competition among 20 companies.

Doroni has the enthusiastic support of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the economic development agency of Broward County.

“There’s no doubt that it’s coming,” David Coddington, senior vice president – business development, said of the evolution of the electric-powered aircraft. “Even in Paris — the Olympics this year are supposed to have some working eVTOLS to take people around.”

“There’s all different designs out there,” Coddington added. “Doroni’s new design is pretty cool looking.”

He sees real estate developers making space for them in their residential and commercial projects.

“When you think how much wealth there is here in South Florida, there’s a market here for it, without a doubt,” he said.

But it’s a price point makes it largely a product for the top 1%, asserted Gregory Stuart, executive director of the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which plots transportation policy for the county and arranges federal funding for public projects.

“It’s interesting but it’s not completely baked,” Stuart said.  “I’m really excited to see it but in the end it’s early.”

“It doesn’t mean it can’t change over time and develop,” he added. “It’s a sexy thing because we all saw the Jetsons. The people in the upper 1% of our economy — they are the ones who will end up using it. It’s not going to replace the [proposed] Coastal [Rail] Link, it’s not going to replace our friends at Brightline or the single persons running up and down on I-95.”

Even at the Hard Rock, the specter of eVTOLS dropping off gamblers, concertgoers and dining-out patrons atop or near the Guitar Hotel seems a bit far-fetched.

“This subject is too new for a meaningful comment,” said spokesman Gary Bitner.

Rules for the eVTOL highway

There is also the question of how and when regulators, namely the FAA and the Florida Department of Transportation, will lay out rules to accommodate eVTOLs in the air and on the ground.

“What once seemed only real in movies or cartoons is happening,” the FAA says in a web post on what it calls Advanced Air Mobility. “Our job is to ensure this new generation of air taxis maintains the high level of safety that defines commercial aviation today.”

It says the Biden-Harris Administration intends to use the craft as part of a “vision of transportation that is more efficient, more sustainable, and more equitable, while creating thousands of great jobs.”

In April, the Florida Department of Transportation conducted a series of meetings in Tampa to scope out how the new technology will fit in the state’s overall scheme of travel.

“Florida is an ideal target market for this technology and for related business opportunities,” said DOT Secretary Jared W. Perdue in a statement. “The efforts we are making now lay the groundwork for this upcoming option and will ensure success in the future.”

The meetings involved public and private sector leaders who discussed how needs, challenges, streamlined processes, and the development of “necessary infrastructure to begin AAM services in the Sunshine State.”

But an FDOT spokesman in Fort Lauderdale did not have any immediate information on what it all meant for South Florida.

“From what we know you will be able to take off and land from private and personal property or property that will give you permission,” Merdinger said by phone on Thursday. “We expect to fly a couple of hundred feet to 500 or 1,500. They know this technology is coming. We are now working on the rules for this category.”

“We are waiting for the FAA, and from what we know so far they are talking about corridors or highways in the sky — you go up and go to a route — a specific road in the sky,”  he added. “There are already rules for aircraft. We don’t expect this to be working too differently.”

Some would-be owners say they don’t have to worry about how local airspace will be controlled.

Matt Gillio, who operates an avocado farm in Ventura County, Calif., which is just north of Los Angeles, said he’ll use his “to check my fields.”

“From the air you can see things a lot better,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s a lot quicker to be doing my job.”

“All of our stuff is within a 30-mile range,” he said. “I have an office with a big barn. I would charge at my office and take off from my office.”

Gillio said he tried drones, but “it really didn’t work out.”

“I would never do helicopters, they are too complicated and hard to fly,” he added.

Electric-power aircraft are “the wave of the future,” Gillio said. “I think it’s going to be a big deal. It’s exciting to be on the ground floor.”