The authorities of Japan announced the creation of a council for flying road transport, which within the next ten years will have to develop and implement rules for flying cars. According to Bloomberg, 21 companies have joined this council, including the European concern Airbus, American Boeing, as well as Toyota, NEC, Cartivator, ANA Holdings, Japan Airlines and Uber Technologies.
In July this year, the Japanese government announced its intention to actively develop public flying vehicles – flying cars, capable of traveling on public roads and flying at low altitude. The first flights of such vehicles in the country are planned for 2020.
At the first stage of the plan implementation, flying cars will be used during natural disasters, as well as for moving between settlements in case of road damage. Such practical operation will help speed up the development of the regulatory framework for flying cars.
The Japanese authorities believe that the use of flying cars, as well as aerotaxi, will significantly reduce the number of traffic jams on the roads and speed up passenger transportation. The first meeting of the Council on Flying Transport is scheduled for August 29, 2018.
In May last year it became known that the Japanese startup Cartivator for the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which will be held in 2020, will develop a commercial version of the flying machine Skydrive. The developers intend to build a folding quadrocopter-electric car, which can move along public roads.
Maximum speed Skydrive in flight will be about 100 kilometers per hour and about 150 kilometers per hour – when driving on the road. Development of Skydrive has been ongoing since 2012. The project is supported by Toyota. The developers intend to conduct the first manned flight of the prototype Skydrive until the end of 2018.
