Experts and policy think tankers constantly sounding the alarm over Chinese technological development outpacing that of the US were handed another chilling data point on Thursday as another major milestone in the communist dictatorship’s rush to become the unchallenged global leader in shaping tomorrow’s world: The first-ever mid-air collision between two flying cars.
The BBC reports that two Xpeng AeroHT vehicles – which really look like oversized drones with like eight propellers arrayed out from the top and not at all like “flying cars” seen in movies like Back to The Future Part II or The Fifth Element – crashed into each other during rehearsals for an airshow in the northeastern city of Changchun. At least one of the two $300,000 octocopters burst into flames, according to footage seen on the Chicom Twitter ripoff Weibo that was probably censored later. The company told CNN the vehicle had “sustained fuselage damage and caught fire upon landing,” and other reports said one person was injured but you should trust that as far as you can throw it.