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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: 4, Funny) by Snospar on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:07PM (5 children)
1) Build a fairly big quadcopter using any parts you find lying around
2) Arrange press conference using the term "Flying Car"
3) ???
4) Profit *
* I do hope not. Seriously, any investor that sees those photos and thinks "Wow! The future is here - must get in on the ground floor!" should seek medical help, they may be having a stroke.
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(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:16PM (4 children)
Perhaps overly pedantically, it has eight rotors, not four.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday June 07 2017, @03:59PM (2 children)
4 Rotors Should Be Enough For Everybody.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday June 07 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
I doubt it could ever exceed a 640k payload.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday June 08 2017, @01:12PM
Depends on the Expanded Mass Specification.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @07:01PM
If you look at the photos, however, you will notice that it has only 4 nacelles.
The suggested dept. line was
from the large-plexiglass-quadracopter-with-wheels dept.
The editor's dept. line mentioned a thing with no wheels.
(George's flying car collapsed into a briefcase which a human could carry with no noticeable effort.)
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