Flying cars were always an idea in sci-fi movies, TV shows, and cartoons. The idea of getting in your car and flying to work has always been something that most of us thought will never happen. When we look back 50,60, or 70 years ago, people from that time already thought that flying cars would be a regular thing by the year 2000.
Well, we've got some excellent news for all of you who still want to fly to work. A company from Japan has successfully tested its first flying car, or better said, drone-car. The future is just around the corner.
Japanese Startup with Huge Plans
Instead of seeing a race for flying cars, today, most tech companies are working hard to develop autonomous, self-driving vehicles. Flying cars are still more or less a thing found in sci-fi movies. But not anymore. A small Japanese startup company called SkyDrive has worked very hard to come up with a real flying car, and their recent test drive looks very promising.
The small Tokyo-based company revealed and successfully tested its SD-03 flying car in August 2020. It's still not a fully functional flying vehicle, but it's the closest one to that made so far. As expected, it's a single-seat electric car sitting on four powerful propellers. The first tests managed to prove that the car has enough power to lift one person, which is just the tip of the iceberg. The company will now try to scale things up, and their goal is to release fully functional flying cars by the end of 2023.
Imagine what that will be for rideshare options. Want to get to work super-fast during the rush hour? No problem, the nearest flying car is on its way. Boy, we can't wait to see how that works in practice. One thing is for sure; the police will need their own flying cars as well.
About the Car
The SD-03 flying car is something else. It's a relatively small vehicle that can land and take off on an area smaller than one parking space. It features four pairs of powerful propellers, one pair on each end, and a single-seat, but it's designed to be a two-seater. While many other companies experimented with different versions of oversized drones that could be used as transportation, SkyDrive has managed to go one step further. They built and successfully tested their first flying car with a driver inside.
The car was only about 2 meters in the air for 5 minutes, but that was enough to get the entire world excited. Japan has a considerable need for flying cards because of their massively overpopulated cities like Osaka and Tokyo. Something like this would help people navigate the city much faster. The Japanese government is already thinking about introducing the first flying taxi services in 2023 to fix traffic jams.
While SkyDrive isn't very fast, it can currently fly for a maximum of 10 minutes on a single charge. The company behind it will soon improve the top speed and range, but there's still a lot of work to be done. However, this first step is a breakthrough, and soon other companies will want in on the action. There are currently over 100 active flying car projects worldwide, but SkyDrive seems ahead of everyone else.
The Future of Transportation
The world is getting closer and closer to flying cars, but it's still unclear how things will work in the end. Will all flying cars use vertical takeoff and landing technology (VTOL)? Will there be a few different types of flying cars? Even if we stick to just one, how will they operate? Will there be special laws and flying police too?
These are all questions that will need answering in the near future. No matter how we organize everything, it looks like we will see people flying over our homes soon. Those scenes from "Fifth Element" are not so far-fetched anymore.
The future of transportation will almost certainly switch to either electrical or hydrogen-based motors. Some cars will fly, while others will drive themselves from point A to point B. Driving to work will soon be a thing of the past, and it's no wonder since many companies are spending billions of dollars to invent new eco-friendly forms of transportation. Most people will Google rideshare and book a public vehicle that will drive them to work. That means no maintenance costs, no parking meters, just pure transportation.
Impact of Coronavirus
The truth is that the coronavirus made a significant impact on all automotive companies, especially flying car projects. The worldwide lockdown has severely damaged the entire global economy, so most flying car projects are now on hold. The US had a few awesome projects going, but most of them are now on pause.
Uber is one of the companies that worked on their own flying cars, but they have downsized their department due to the virus. We are yet to see what other companies will do in the next few years, but it's almost certain that Japan will be the first country with flying cars. The only person who could come with a game-changer is Elon Musk, but we'll talk about that some other time.
Interesting Times Ahead
No matter if you're impressed by flying cars or autonomous vehicles, we are entering some exciting times when it comes to transportation. Soon, everything we know about driving will change completely, including the infrastructure everywhere around us.
With flying cars and self-driving vehicles, there won't be a need for so many parking spots, highways, traffic lights, and many other things we find completely normal. So, the bottom line is that we're more than excited to see if Japan succeeds in creating the first flying car taxi service by the end of 2023, as that would drag the rest of the world down the same road overnight.
