Skip to main content

Aska’s ludicrous SUV-sized flying car gets closer to reality at CES 2023

The CES 2025 logo.
Read and watch our complete CES coverage here

In a field of high-tech cars as crowded as CES 2023, it takes a lot to stand out, but the Aska A5 does one trick not even the wildest Mercedes can compete with: It flies.

On Wednesday, the Silicon Valley upstart unveiled the first fully functional prototype of the A5, an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) that the company claims will hit both roads and skies in 2026. Previously, it has only demonstrated a small-scale prototype.

The Aska A5 is a electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle).
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Flying cars may elicit a reflexive eye roll after years of promises that never quite came to fruition, but the Aska has a few benefits that may make it more reasonable than its vaporware predecessors. For one, it doesn’t need a runaway. As the VT in eVTOL implies, it can take off vertically anywhere a helicopter could, using six electric motors that fan out from its body on arms, making it look a lot like a drone. After reaching altitude, two of those arms tilt forward to act as wings.

Recommended Videos

On the ground, the A5 can operate as a car using an electric motor powering each of four wheels. Aska claims those motors should be powerful enough to whisk it to 70 mph, and to take off from a runway in less than five seconds – a more efficient way to get airborne than the eVTOL feature.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The A5 boasts a claimed range of 250 miles in the air, but that’s not all from its lithium-ion batteries. It also uses a gasoline engine as a “range extender” to charge the batteries, just like early EVs. The same dual-power arrangement acts as a safety feature, since the engine can act as a generator in the event of battery failure. And if things really go south, a ballistic parachute deploys to float the whole thing back to earth safely.

The Aska A5 flying car drives across a bridge with its rotor arms folded up for storage.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Aska is already taking pre-orders for the A5 online – a $5,000 refundable deposit gets you a place in line to eventually plunk down $789,000 for the real deal. But if that’s a bit out of reach, Aska also intends to sell access to the A5 as a service in major cities and their surroundings, in which a certified pilot will pick you up and ferry you to your location.

While cars may typically take center stage, CES is no stranger to aircraft. In 2020 and 2019 respectively, both Hyundai and Bell showed off electric aircraft they claimed would help usher in the age of flying taxis. Both were supposed to be partners for Uber Elevate, before the ride-share service sold off that department in the depths of the COVID pandemic.

Nick Mokey
As Digital Trends’ Editor in Chief, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team covering every gadget under the sun, along with…
VW previews its next electric car in trippy camouflaged form
Front three quarter view of a camouflaged Volkswagen ID.7 prototype.

The Volkswagen ID.7 is VW's next electric car, and while it won't be fully revealed until later in the year, the automaker provided a sneak peek at CES 2023.

VW said the production ID.7, which will be revealed in the second quarter of this year, will be influenced by the ID.Aero concept first shown in China in 2022. The camouflaged prototype VW brought to CES has the same general shape as the ID.Aero. It's a streamlined sedan that VW claims will have up to 435 miles of range as measured on the somewhat lenient European WLTP testing cycle.

Read more
What to expect at CES 2023, from mondo TVs to EVs
The futuristic Aska eVTOL quadcopter will take off and land vertically, like a drone.

Break out the champagne and roll out the red carpets, CES is back! After two rough, COVID-addled years that saw the world’s greatest tech show reduced to a shell of its former self, the show is primed to spring back to its former glory for 2023. And our team of writers and editors will be on the ground in Las Vegas, bringing it all to you.

But much has changed since the last “normal” CES of 2020. The economy has boomed and busted, supply chains have knotted, and attitudes over excess have shifted as climate change looms larger and larger in our global conversation. And as always, the tech itself has marched forward, rising to the challenges of our new post-COVID lives.

Read more
BMW shows off an electric car with color-changing paint at CES 2022
A color-changing BMW iX electric SUV.

From engine sounds to seat massagers, modern cars let drivers personalize almost everything. At CES 2022, BMW is taking that idea a step further with a concept version of its iX electric SUV that sports color-changing paint.

The effect relies on E Ink, the same electronic paper technology used in e-readers. Millions of microcapsules approximately the diameter of a human hair are embedded in an exterior wrap made from laser-cut electronic paper segments, according to BMW. They contain negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Activating an electric field causes different amounts of each pigment to collect on the surface, shifting the color between black, white, and gray with the press of a button.

Read more