Flying Cars: Japan, Britain, Germany And The U.S Championing The Crusade.

This theory may sound like total fantasy, but it’s not because at present the government of Japan is planning to bring the future closer with flying cars. The initiative was launched sometime ago with the private sector to create these futuristic vehicles and the government wants to conclude in Its roadmap at the year end about commercialising these models.

At the moment, an ongoing partnership between Japanese government officials and firms like Boeing and Airbus, with notable Japanese transport companies like All Nippon Airways, NEC and the Toyota-backed Cartivator will bring this project to manifestation.

Some of the solutions the flying cars are expected to offer include issues of transportation in remote islands or mountainous areas, or rescue operations and goods transport in disaster.

This public-private partnership will cultivate a new industry and make it profitable in the world market.

This is not the first shot at this initiative in the country, presently a three-wheeler car that operates on drone technology to take flight is being developed by a group of engineers working with the Cartivator project. The project has gulped about 42.5 million Yen ($382,00) in funds from from Toyota and affliated companies. Also Cartivator hopes to create a manned model of this project by the end of next year so it can be used to light the Olympic flame when Japan’s Capital Tokyo hosts the Games in 2020.

The vehicle labelled SkyDrive will have the following features, four sets of propellors, and be 2.9 metres (9.5 foot) long and 1.3 metres wide.

However Japan is not alone in the chase to produce these flying vehicle models. Other countries such as the United States, Britain and Germany are involved also. Firms involved in the project include Uber, the Kitty Hawk Project backed by Goggle founder Larry page, Lilium Avaition in Germany, Safran in France, and Honeywell in the United States.

Roll-Royce had also disclosed plans to create a hybrid electric vehicle, called the flying taxi, while Kitty Hawk in June offered test flights to people interested in buying Its vehicle.

Contributor: Babatunde Modupe