Japan Media: Start-up Competition of "Flying Cars" Launched by Emerging European and American Enterprises

[Global Technology Reporter Wang Huan] According to "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" reported on April 27, emerging European and American companies are actively developing "flying cars." Uber Technologies, a taxi service provider, announced on April 25 that it will try to fly a taxi before 2020. In addition, a Slovakian company also proposed a plan to start sales before the same year. The flying car that appeared in the Hollywood movie Back to the Future in the 1980s may become a reality.

Slovakia's flying car costs more than 100 million yen

Uber’s Chief Product Officer (CPO) Jeff Holden revealed plans for a flying taxi at an event in Dallas, Texas. Brazilian small-scale vertical take-off and landing aircraft will be developed in cooperation with Brazilian aircraft manufacturers such as Embraer. It plans to conduct flight tests in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai before 2020 and formally fly by 2023.

According to a report by the Financial Times in the United Kingdom, Jeff Holden CPO stated that "(flying taxis) can be operated with the press of a button." In October 2016, Uber launched the idea of ​​using a flying taxi as a new means of transportation.

In Europe, entrepreneurial companies are also very active. Slovakia's AeroMobil plans to begin selling flying cars by 2020. According to Reuters, the price reached more than one million US dollars, just press the switch, you can switch to flight mode within 3 minutes. The flying car it develops presents a unique shape that resembles tears. On the road, the wing can be folded and traveled. The company said, "If you want to fly, you need to have a driver's license and a pilot's license in addition to having a place to allow takeoff."

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On the other hand, Lilium, headquartered in Germany, is promoting the development of five flying taxis. During the test flight, the two-seater prototype machine was tested in the air with a hovering hold.

Harmony with self-driving cars

Just as Brazil’s aerospace industry and Uber join hands, the number of large aircraft companies approaching companies with autonomous driving technology is also increasing.

In mid-April, Airbus Ventures of Europe, through its venture capital (VC) company Airbus Ventures, made a small investment in the autonomous driving service provider BestMile (Switzerland). BestMile is a start-up from Europe's top technology university and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. The cloud platform manages operational data on self-driving cars and surrounding traffic information, and contributes to areas such as autonomous driving of buses in Switzerland.

Matthew Rappellin of Airbus Ventures explained the reasons for funding. “Operation management is indispensable for optimizing the vehicle system.” The time will come for aircraft companies to participate in the construction of platforms spanning land and air.

In Japan, the actions of car manufacturers have been reported, but it is still not possible to specify the time for practical use of flying cars. On the other hand, in Dubai, where Uber is selected as the test site, administration has actively participated, and there is also the concept of a flying taxi using a small aircraft that resembles a small drone.

Into the world of Deronin

The US, Japan, and Europe auto makers will use 2020-2021 as the deadline for the practical use of self-driving cars. It coincides with the target time of Uber and other flying cars. If the integration of the two progresses, the "land and sky" barriers surrounding the movement of people (vehicles) will be reduced. Just like the world of "Deronin", the flying car that appeared in "Back to the Future".

Of course, there are many cases in which the formulation of rules required to actually drive on a highway or the like has not yet been started. In addition, consumers need to understand the benefits of security and utilization. To take off as a business, there are still many obstacles that need to be overcome.