Clive Sinclair 1985 owing to Sinclair's financial troubles.) The following year, he received a knighthood and formed Sinclair Vehicles Ltd. to develop electric vehicles, which resulted in the unsuccessful Sinclair C5 in 1985. In 1984, Sinclair launched the Sinclair QL computer, intended for professional users. Development of the ZX Spectrum continued with the enhanced ZX Spectrum 128 in 1985. In April 1986, Sinclair Research sold the Sinclair trademark and computer business to Amstrad for £5 million. Sinclair Research Ltd. was reduced to an R&D business and holding company, with shareholdings in several spin-off companies, formed to exploit technologies developed by the company.
Personal air vehicle breakthroughs. A ground transport alternative is enabled by unmanned aircraft technologies: Autonomous Systems and electric propulsion. Barriers include aviation safety, airworthiness, operating costs, usability, airspace integration, aircraft noise and emissions, tackled first by small UAS certification then experience. Other names discussed include PIVITOLs (Personal Vertical TakeOff vehicles), Air-cars, PACs (Personal AirCraft), AVs (Air Vehicles). The first technical paper to explain the difference in vehicle characteristics between PAVs and existing General Aviation single engine piston aircraft was "Personal Air Vehicles: A Rural/Regional and Intra-Urban On-Demand Transportation System" by Mark D. Moore (the NASA PAV Sector Manager) from NASA Langley Research Center.