The Associated Press reports via the Bangkok Post
Cartivator, a startup group of about 30 engineers including some young Toyota employees, started to develop their SkyDrive vehicle in 2014 with the help of crowdfunding.
The head of Cartivator, Tsubasa Nakamura, said that while the car was still at an early stage of development, the group expected to conduct the first manned flight by the end of 2018.
During the demonstration on [June 4], the current test model, a primitive-looking assembly of aluminium framing and propellers, was able to get off and float on the ground for a few seconds. Nakamura said the design needed more stability so the prototype would be able to fly long and high enough to reach the Olympic flame.
The engineers are aiming to make their flying car the world's smallest electric vehicle, which can be used in small urban areas, and hopes to commercialise the car in 2025.
The Inquirer put it this way:
A startup backed by the Japanese automaker has developed a test model that engineers hope will eventually develop into a tiny car with a driver who'll be able to light the Olympic torch in the 2020 Tokyo games. For now, however, the project is a concoction of aluminum framing and eight propellers that barely gets off the ground and crashes after several seconds.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by VLM on Wednesday June 07 2017, @02:55PM (3 children)
Note that you could 2.5D hovercraft it 5 feet off the ground and stop spending billions on roads. You'd still have to spend millions to put up signs and cut down trees and stuff like that, but it could be a lot cheaper. And every driver taking the hovercraft trail to work is one less on my legacy roads WRT congestion and rush hour. I wonder if eventually roads would only be for trucks, and the only for automated trucks because there's no "civilians" left on the roads, they're all on hovercraft paths.
Also I suspect there would be skill levels involved and having done ground school (admittedly a long time ago) and some flight hours, I bet I could solo extremely quickly at which point I wouldn't be computer limited anymore to "no higher than 10 feet" or whatever the definition of hovercraft is.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NewNic on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:02PM
Have you ever seen a hovercraft navigate a turn? There is a reason that hovercraft are typically used on wide open spaces.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 07 2017, @06:01PM
SUVs with knobby tires and Harleys with "special" pipes are not loud enough for you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @08:16PM
The fuel (and pollution) costs of everyone flying 5 feet off the ground will far outweigh the costs of building roads.