The year-old dream of dashing in the sky as smoothly as off in the road is coming closer to reality as the flying car project of a Japanese company is closer to being successful.
Japan-based SkyDrive Inc. demonstrated its successful test flight of the flying car with a person on broad. The company released images of a contraption with propellers lifted about 1-2 meters off the ground and hovered in the netted area for about four minutes.
Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive stated that “we want to realize a society where flying cars are an accessible and convenient means of transportation in the skies and people can experience a safe, secure and comfortable new way of life.”
The SkyDrive head also said that the company hopes to introduce this car into the market as a practical product by 2023 while admitting that ensuring its safety is highly crucial.
In a statement given to the media Fukuzawa said that “Of the world’s more than 100 flying cars projects, only a handful have succeeded with a person on board. I hope many people will want to ride it and feel safe.”
With this invention, the Japanese government is emphasizing its capacity to aid in disaster rescue and connecting to remote areas.
Currently, the flying car can only fly up to five to ten minutes and the company is aiming to increase its time to attract more markets including the Chinese. Another challenge such machines face is air trafficking and infrastructures and before making it commercialized these issues must be addressed first.
The Carnegie Mellon University, Robotic Institute professor Sanjiv Singh opined that the machine flies only for 5 minutes and they cost it $10 million, no one is going to buy it.
The SkyDrive project was started in 2012 initially as a Catrivator project and with funds from Japanese companies like Toyota, Panasonic, and video-game makers Bandai Namco.
