SkyDrive demonstrates battery-powered vehicle and aims for service starting in 2023
TOYOTA CITY, Japan—A startup has demonstrated a battery-powered flying car for the first time in Japan with hopes of starting service for the public in 2023.
SkyDrive Inc. still needs to improve its technology and overcome regulatory hurdles. By the 2030s, the company envisions everyday commuting with drone-like vehicles that could drive on city streets before taking off like a helicopter.
Lucid Motors has ambitious plans to defy skeptics and take on Tesla
Competition is already growing in the field of vehicles sometimes known as air taxis, automobiles, or electrically powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles. Japan is behind companies in the U.S., Germany, and China in developing the technology.
SkyDrive said its plans differ from others because it eventually hopes to include wheels on its vehicle so it could be driven into a home garage. It said the 880-pound test vehicle took up as much space as two cars.
One of the Brains Behind Tesla May Have a New Way to Make Electric Cars Cheaper
“We’d like it to be something someone could use easily every day,” said Chief Executive Tomohiro Fukuzawa, who established the company in 2018 after working for Toyota Motor Corp.
SkyDrive said it recently completed the second round of fundraising with investment totaling about $37 million from the Development Bank of Japan Inc., NEC Corp., and others.
It aims to start with a service in Osaka in 2023 that would ferry visitors for up to 10 minutes between tourist attractions. The plans call for a two-seat vehicle with a pilot and one paying passenger.
Saudi-backed electric car breaks through 500 miles range barrier
The vehicle is demonstrated in a mountainous part of Toyota City had just one seat and was piloted by a company engineer who kept his speed under 3 miles an hour. The demonstration was held in a cage because SkyDrive doesn’t yet have permission to test in the open air.
WSJ / Balkantimes.press
Napomena o autorskim pravima: Dozvoljeno preuzimanje sadržaja isključivo uz navođenje linka prema stranici našeg portala sa koje je sadržaj preuzet. Stavovi izraženi u ovom tekstu autorovi su i ne odražavaju nužno uredničku politiku The Balkantimes Press.
Copyright Notice: It is allowed to download the content only by providing a link to the page of our portal from which the content was downloaded. The views expressed in this text are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies of The Balkantimes Press.