Flight is facilitated through a system called distributed electric propulsion, with a mesh layer covering propeller blades to allow air to flow through the vehicle, according to the Daily Mail.
“This is the first publicly released video of a car driving and taking off vertically,” declared company CEO Jim Dukhovny in a recent press release. He compared the automotive milestone to the Wright Brothers’ revolutionary Kitty Hawk video from 1903, Electrek reported.
Alef representatives assured viewers that the maiden flight took place on a closed-off road so that no people were in peril on or near the flight path.