The flying car · Personal Aerial Vehicle

KiiRA

The world's first compact reverse trike-hexacopter. Patent-pending design that transforms between a sleek personal flyer and a road-worthy car. Anyone. Anywhere. By air or by land. Anytime.

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Why we do what we do

We love to fly and hate driving into traffic.

Why can't we have vehicles that are really like birds? Birds don't need a runway to fly. They don't need to put their wings in the hangar and then take a cab to go to the city. Everywhere in the world, people wish they could travel on road or by air easily.

Vision

We want people to have the freedom to travel with their vehicle on land and in air. Garudeus focuses on giving our customers a vehicle that empowers them and that truly distinguishes them from others. We are driven by our desire to make flying instantaneous and flying machines simpler.

Mission

Build the American drone business that ships today, and use that engineering momentum, supply chain, and revenue to deliver the flying car the world has been waiting for.

Our story

The problem we're solving

Garudeus was formed because — like a lot of day-to-day commuters and travelers — we were fed up with road-traffic delays. That is why we are building the first compact single-person, electric-gasoline hybrid, safe personal-air VTOL vehicle: KiiRA.

Garudeus Aviation was born in 2017 from our love of flying and our hatred of driving around in cars and getting stuck in traffic. Around the same time, Boeing launched the GoFly competition, which provided impetus to bring our vision to market faster. We competed in the Boeing GoFly Competition (2017–2020).

Journey

September 2017

Rishav Shrestha develops the concept for an exoskeleton-based personal air-land vehicle: MorphR. He names the startup Garudeus Aviation after Garuda — the mythical winged being who could fly. Garudeus is a faux Latinization of Garuda.
April 2018

Due to a technical glitch, entry of MorphR into Phase I of the Boeing GoFly competition is abandoned.
July 2018

KiiRA is conceptualized — a reverse-trike-hexacopter that drives on the road and flies in Airspace G.
December 2018

Garudeus Aviation, Inc. is incorporated in Delaware.
February 2019

KiiRA is entered into Phase II of the Boeing GoFly competition.
March 2019

KiiRA one-third scale prototype built.
February 2020

Static demo of KiiRA demonstrated at the GoFly Fly-off at Moffett Federal Airfield.
2026 — Today

Garudeus pivots to fund the flying-car program through a US-assembled drone manufacturing business. Moreno Valley, California facility planned. Drone storefront launches with 20 SKUs across consumer, public safety, industrial, and defense. Revenue from drones funds KiiRA development and certification work.
2027–2028

KiiRA full-scale flying prototype targeted. FAA powered-lift category certification pathway pursued in parallel.

No to the transport mafia

Fly and drive at will.

One vehicle. Drives. Flies.

Integrated controls

One UI for automobile and avionics.

No pilot license needed

Fly assisted or autonomous. Unrestricted.

Drive any road

Fly in Airspace G. Transform in under one minute.

Technology

Seven systems. One aircraft. One automobile.

Safety

KiiRA is designed with safety as our highest priority. Triple-modular-redundant flight systems, integrated switching, trackable navigation, and manual safety measures allow seamless transition between road and flight modes.

Integrated Control and Navigation

A single user interface integrates automobile controls and avionics. Single software layer to integrate fly-by-wire, drive-by-wire, robotics, and power management systems — no pilot license required, fly assisted or autonomous, drive on all roads, fly in Airspace G.

Drive- / Fly-by-Wire System

Fitted with hub motors and electronic power steering controlled by drive-controller software, KiiRA drives on roads with utmost ease. The same airframe uses advanced electric motors for multicopter flight with an automated flight-controller stack.

Multicopter with Tiltrotor

Designed for rapid VTOL (vertical take-off-and-landing) and high-endurance long-range flight via tilting rotors that transition between hover and forward-flight modes.

Hybrid Power

A state-of-the-art power-generation unit consisting of an internal-combustion engine and a DC generator, harmonized with a lithium-polymer battery pack and managed by a smart power-management system.

Electric Car

Designed for long-distance road travel as a true electric motorcycle / reverse-trike with hub motors and a high-density battery.

Robotics

KiiRA's robotics efficiently handles drive and flight mode transitions, as well as facilitating compaction (folding rotors) and safety mechanisms.

Specifications

KiiRA · technical sheet

Targets for the production prototype. Subject to refinement through certification.

Description

Type: Single seat PAV (Personal Aerial Vehicle)
Configuration: VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing), foldable multicopter with tiltrotor
Powerplant: Hybrid; full electric propulsion

Classification

Air: Experimental Aircraft (FAA*)
Land: Electric Motorcycle

Controls

Steering: Driving wheel + joystick, fly-by-wire electrical controls, drive-by-wire controls
Navigation: Single integrated automotive and avionic controls
Transformation: Full transformation into flight mode in under 1 minute

Structure

Fuselage: Epoxy-impregnated carbon fiber, acrylic canopy
Chassis: Epoxy-impregnated perforated steel
Landing surfaces: Concrete, asphalt, grass, snow, ice

Safety

Redundancy: Triple-modular redundancy
Occupant restraint: Load-limiting seat belts, airbags (optional)
Design philosophy: Fault-tolerant; 6 fixed propulsion units
Recovery: Ballistic parachute / ejector seat (optional)

Operating Conditions

Wind: 25 mph max (takeoff and landing)
Temperature: -20 °C to 50 °C (-4 °F to 122 °F)
Weather: Rain capable

Operator

Limits: Up to 198 cm (6 ft 6 in) / 113 kg (250 lbs)

Size

Width (rotors collapsed): 3 ft 6 in
Width (rotors open): 8 ft 6 in
Length: 8 ft 6 in
Height: 5 ft 4 in
Empty weight: 188 kg (414 lbs)

Fuel & Battery

Gasoline: 20.8 L (5.5 gal)
Battery: 8.8 kWh

Charging

120 V / 15 A — 20 % → 100 %: 7.4 hrs
120 V / 20 A — 20 % → 100 %: 5.5 hrs
240 V / 50 A — 20 % → 100 %: 67 mins
240 V / 2× 50 A — 20 % → 80 %: 25 mins

Range & Thrust

Range: 96 km (60 miles) — at operator weight 95 kg / 210 lb
Static thrust: 600 kg (1,320 lbs)

Performance (at max takeoff weight)

Cruise speed: 100 km/h (62 mph)
Max altitude: 1,524 m (5,000 ft)
Stall speed: 0 mph (VTOL)
Max climb rate: 1,000 fpm
Max descent rate: 1,000 fpm

*FAA Experimental Aircraft classification target. Final certification category subject to FAA review and updated powered-lift category rules.

Drones today. Flying car tomorrow.

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