Flying car startup backed by Google founder offers test flights

LOS ANGELES – A flying car project backed by Google co-founder Larry Page was closer to takeoff on Wednesday, with a model for test flights by aspiring buyers. Kitty Hawk, funded by Page, unveiled a Flyer model it described as "an exciting first step to sharing the freedom of flight." The company was created last year in Google's home town of Mountain View, California, and has been testing a prototype in New Zealand. Images and details were available at a freshly launched website at flyer.aero, and CNN posted coverage of a reporter taking to the air in a Flyer over a lake at a test site near Las Vegas. Kitty Hawk chief executive Sebastian Thrun, who founded the Google X lab devoted to "moonshots" such as self-driving cars and internet-synched eyewear, was quoted by CNN as saying piloting Flyer was as easy as playing the video game "Minecraft."