The Cavorite X5 separates itself from the pack as the only eVTOL that completely covers its lift fans for super low-drag cruise flight.

With a wingspan of 22 ft (6.7 m) and a length around 15 ft (4.6 m), this half-scale prototype weighs 500-odd lb (~227 kg) – so it's by no means a small drone. We're pleasantly surprised to see this thing looking extremely close to the rendered designs we've seen for what has to be one of the best-looking aircraft in the eVTOL class – well, provided you can deal with the fact that it looks like it's made out of graphics cards.

The Cavorite X5 is a pure lift & cruise canard design, with 16 lift fans embedded in the wings and a single pusher prop at the back. Horizon has designed and patented a very neat wing design, in which the aerodynamic shell of a smooth, solid wing splits right down the middle. The leading and trailing edges of the wing move apart to reveal the lift fans for VTOL operations, then close and lock shut when it's time to cruise.

"You can think of the wing as a carbon fiber dual box beam structure," Horizon founder Brandon Robinson told us over a video chat. "That gives us enough space for the circular fans. The secret is to keep the system light enough, and still have a safe and robust opening and closing system. There's cross-talk between the wings to make sure the opening is symmetrical, and one won't keep opening if the other's jammed – and there's a pretty cool mechanism to drive those covers to a decent stop and lock them in place against buffeting. And we had to keep that whole system light, and elegant, and also ground repairable, because these things will be going to all sorts of crazy places."