(Skip to 1:10 for takeoff)
Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp on Monday has showcased a “flying car”, a large drone-like machine with four propellers that hovered steadily for about a minute.
The test flight reaching 3 metres high was held in a gigantic cage, as a safety precaution, at an NEC facility in a Tokyo suburb yesterday.
Preparations, such as repeated checks on the machine and warnings to reporters to wear helmets, took longer than two brief demonstrations.
The Japanese government wants people zipping around in flying cars by the 2030s.
It's backing a huge test course built in an area devastated by the 2011 tsunami, quake and nuclear disasters in Fukushima in northeastern Japan.
Mie, a prefecture in central Japan frequently used as a resort area by Hollywood celebrities, also hopes to use flying cars to connect its various islands.
Similar projects are popping up around world, such as Uber Air of the US.
A flying car by Japanese startup Cartivator crashed quickly in a 2017 demonstration.
Cartivator chief executive Tomohiro Fukuzawa, who was at yesterday’s demonstration, said their machines were also flying longer lately.
The goal is to deliver a seamless transition from driving to flight like the world of the Back to the Future films. Huge hurdles include battery life, the need for regulations and safety concerns.
NEC officials said their flying car was designed for unmanned flights for deliveries but used tech from other company operations, such as space travel and cybersecurity.
Often called EVtol, for “electric vertical takeoff and landing” aircraft, a flying car is defined as an aircraft that’s electric, or hybrid electric, with driverless capabilities, that can land and takeoff vertically.
All of the flying car concepts, which are like drones big enough to hold humans, promise to be better than helicopters.
Helicopters are expensive to maintain, noisy to fly and require trained pilots.
Flying cars also are being touted as useful for disaster relief.
Uber is planning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023. It has chosen Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne as the first cities to offer what it calls Uber Air flights.
Dubai has also been aggressive about introducing flying cars.
Japanese officials say Japan has a good chance of emerging as a world leader because the government and the private sector will work closely together.
- AP