Important Innovations

SkyDrive Successful Test Flight Source:  SkyDrive Test Flight Japanese Govt. Wants Flying Cars Operating by 2023 The beginning of the flying car era just got a lot closer.  Today, Japan's flying car, the SkyDrive, took off with one person onboard in a successful test flight. It lifted up several feet (1 to 2 meters) and then hovered in a netted area for four minutes.  It was a modest test flight but the vehicle worked. Crowded Skies There are more than 100 flying car projects around the world.  The most notable are the Dutch PAL-V, Lithium of Germany, Joby Aircraft of California, Wisk (Boeing & Larry Page's Kitty Hawk) and SkyDrive.  According to SkyDrive leader Tomohiro Fukuzawa, only a very few have succeeded to fly with a person onboard.  The Japanese government wants flying cars in the skies over major Japanese cities to ease traffic by 2023.  Fukuzawa expects SkyDrive to be an available product on the market by 2023.   eVTOL SkyDrive is an eVTOL, meaning electric verti

  Japan's Government: Flying Cars Over Major Cites by 2023 Source:  SkyDrive Japan's Traffic Mitigation Goals The government of Japan is determined to deploy flying cars for  urban traffic relief.  It wants flying cars soaring over its big cities by 2023.  It believes flying cars will be a solution for traffic congestion and transportation problems in traffic congested cities like Tokyo.  Japanese government leaders also view them as a solution for problematic mountainous and remote regions where access is difficult. Japan's SkyDrive There are several notable flying cars/flying taxi eVTOLS (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles under development.  Players include Airbus, Uber and Boeing with their prototype eVTOLs.  And Japan is developing several of its own flying cars.  Of interest is the newest Japanese flying car startup SkyDrive with its SD-XX, 2-seat flying car.  This eVTOL can be parked in an office parking lot in just two spots. SkyDrive Takeoff Tokyo-base

PAL-V May Be the Flying Car Closest to Public Availability Source:  PAL-V Driving on Roads in the Netherlands in August In August, the Dutch flying car company PAL-V will be allowed to drive the flying/driving vehicle on roads in the Netherlands for the first time.  The National Road Traffic Agency is currently performing its last round of inspections before the PAL-V joins regular highway traffic.  This is a major step forward toward making the PAL-V available for commercialization and deliveries to the public.  PAL-V appears to be at the head of the pack in the emerging flying car industry.  This vehicle could also be on the roads of New Hampshire in the US.  NH has just passed landmark legislation in the US allowing flying cars to drive on its public roads.  PAL-V's US office is located at Manchester Airport in New Hampshire. Public Availability The PAL-V company (Personal Air Land Vehicle) says the flying car will be available to the public in 2021.  It expects to start commerc

The Flyer Takes-Off Flying cars are part of our transportation future.  A number of companies are working on prototype models globally.  But Google co-founder Larry Page and his company Kitty Hawk Corporation have just taken off with their Flyer, a sleek, good looking, one seat, flying car.  It's a pleasure craft that doesn't require a pilot license. Wow Technology The Flyer is engineered quite differently than other flying car prototypes like Terrafugea's Transition, which is a small plane-car hybrid that runs on gas.  The Flyer is powered by ten electric fans along the sides of the craft.  On the underside are slim pontoon-like "wheels" for landing.  It's designed to fly over water and can stay aloft for 20 minutes.  Flyer cruises up to 20 mph and hovers over the water at 3 to 10 feet.  It's categorized by the FAA as an ultra-lite craft and consequently doesn't require a pilot's license.  It's restricted right now to uncontrolled, r

DARPA's ARES Program Flying trucks for US combat troops in the midst of battle.  The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, has an ambitious program well underway to rapidly supply and also evacuate troops in volatile circumstances with flying trucks.  The code name is ARES, Aerial Reconfigurable Enabled Systems.  Vehicles that drive and fly nimbly and with speed.  ARES is part of DARPA's Transformer program which has been very successful in the development of flying cars. ARES Awesome Military Technology DARPA's flying trucks are dual-function vehicles for high speed vertical takeoffs and landings.  They hover and land with two tilting fans.  The vehicles are capable of high speeds during flight.  To reduce ground threats, DARPA researchers focus on unmanned, autonomous aerial logistics systems. Aerial threat evasion from, for example surface to air missiles, is being built in.  Also resistance to IED (Improvised Explosi

Beneficial Innovations:  Flying & Driving Drones, Supersonic Flights & the Hyperloop Tube MIT roboticists are advancing development of flying-driving drones.  They believe it facilitates the next generation of flying robotic cars.   The concept is vertical takeoff and landings.  The robot car is your driver.  Cruising speeds up to 200 miles per hour.  And, if it's electric, you help save the planet.  No carbon emissions.  Terrafugia, founded by MIT PhD. Carl Dietrich has a concept flying car, the TFX with vertical takeoffs and landings.  The company created the world's first FAA and NTSB approved flying car The Transition with a team of MIT engineers. MIT researchers call their flying, driving drones the "flying car".  They've developed 8, quadcopter drones.  They're powered by 4 motors and 2 small motors attached to the wheels at the base.  They can swarm in groups without colliding.  The drones enable the scientists to test various concep

Helicopter Cars Your dream commuter car is coming to your driveway.  TFX, the prototype flying car that takes off and lands like a helicopter.  It's brand new automotive and aviation innovation. You vertically take off from your driveway and land vertically in your office parking lot.  It also drives like a car on the road.  One of the selling points of the helicopter car is you can avoid and take-off from traffic jams. Electric and Autonomous TFX is autonomous, electric and fuel efficient.  Vertical takeoff and landing means no need for an airport.  Chinese owned company Terrafugea says the vehicle will be on the roads and in the skies within ten years.  Company founder Dr. Carl Dietrich and his team of MIT engineers created the world's first FAA and NTSB approved flying car The Transition.  They designed and engineered the TFX. Pushing Flying Car Technology Skywards Meanwhile, NASA and Uber are teaming up to make electric flying cars operational within six years.