In the 1880s, the first automobiles were developed, and about two decades later, the Wright brothers invented the first successful aircraft in North Carolina. Today, the world is closer to combining those two concepts as the Japanese tech company said it completed a human test flight of a “flying car”.
A company called SkyDrive said in a news release on Friday that it had completed flight tests using “the world’s first manned testing machine,” its SD-03 model, electrical vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) vehicle. The flight time was four minutes, the company said.
The aircraft has a seat and it operates eight motors and two propellers at each corner. It rose about 3 meters (or about 10 feet) into the air and was operated by a pilot, the company said.
Tomohiro Fukuzawa, chief executive of SkyDrive, said on Saturday that five years ago there were various prototypes of flying cars, usually with fixed wings. He said the SkyDrive’s product was the most compact in size and was lighter than other designs.
Skydrive was started in 2012 by members of a volunteer organization called Cartivator, and the company began building a “flying car” in 2014, according to its website.
This year, SkyDrive has received money from the Development Bank of Japan and other investors, the company said.
There are many companies developing similar technology, including Boeing and Airbus, as well as ma tomakers Toyota and Porsche. In January, Hyundai and Uber announced that they were collaborating on an all-electric air taxi.
Analysts with Morgan Stanley have said they expect urban air taxis to become normal by 2040, by which time the global market is projected to grow from 1. 1.4 trillion to 2. 2.9 trillion.
Safety is one of the two challenges preventing the widespread use of technology, said Daria Aksharay, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics at the University of Minnesota. Safe autonomous technology for EVTOL aircraft is still being developed, Professor Akshara said.
“These vehicles need to look at their environment, evaluate the situation and act accordingly.” “They can’t wait for the pilot or operator to wait, ‘Do this now, do that now.’ We can’t wait for that kind of micromanagement of the vehicle. “
Another challenge is the design: vehicles must be powerful enough to hold any required weight, yet be quiet enough to fly at a certain low altitude.
Ella Atkins, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan, expressed mixed opinions about the practicality of EVTOL machines.
“They will be more energy efficient than helicopters that use a lot of fuel but they will be less energy efficient than cars because they have to lift themselves,” he said. “From a cost standpoint, they wouldn’t be practical to go to the grocery store.”
Professor Atkins said these machines could be more suitable for satellite communities in cities or countries with difficult terrain.
“These vehicles can provide transportation,” Professor Atkins said, adding that “these communities can be exactly ignored because of the roads” and would use the aircraft as the main type of their transportation.
Mr Fukuzawa said SkyDrive plans to start selling a two-seater version of its EVTOL by 2023 for about $ 300,000 to ,000 500,000. He estimates that prices will fall by 2030.
Professor Akshara said that with any new technology, it would be very expensive in the beginning.
Professor Atkins echoed that observation, saying that private citizens with potential incomes are unlikely to be able to afford them in the next 20 years.
“We’re at the entry stage,” he said. “We don’t have mass production. We’ll need to buy all the development, research, deployment and production costs on small developments.”
Professor Aksharay said that humans are on the verge of a new mobility revolution, reminiscent of the invention of automobiles and aircraft.
“If this succeeds,” he said, “I think it will definitely create a different means of transportation. We have a lot to gain by reducing congestion and overcoming the geographical barriers to land mobility.”
