Khaldon Azhari

TOKYO: This month, the realization of commercially viable flying cars came a little closer in Japan as SkyDrive Inc. signed a partnership agreement with the Osaka Prefectural Government.

The plan is to have a fleet of flying cars up and running for use in the World Expo 2025 in the Osaka region.

The Osaka Prefectural Government established a Roundtable in November 2020 in order to accelerate the introduction of flying cars in the Osaka Bay area. SkyDrive aims to create an air taxi service in the Osaka Bay area for use during Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai and are working out practical plans to prepare the ground for service providers and port operators.

This autumn, SkyDrive will conduct a “Feasibility Study of an Air Taxi Service Using Flying Cars” in conjunction with Obayashi Corporation, Kansai Electric Power Company Inc., Kintetsu Group Holdings Co., Ltd., and Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. This study is expected to clarify the levels of recognition and social acceptance of flying cars as well as verify the feasibility of air taxi services as an ongoing business.

At the press conference to launch the plan, Tomohiro Fukuzawa, the Chief Executive Officer of SkyDrive commented: “We have continued to discuss the social introduction of flying cars with the Osaka Prefectural Government and the Osaka City Government and this partnership agreement brings us one step closer to realizing the practical use of flying cars.

Osaka is the ideal place to launch air mobility in Japan because of its record of innovation, the scheduled World Exposition, and its topography, with the metropolitan area built around and connected by rivers, the bay, and the sea. Flying cars will make it possible to use the skies for daily transportation.”

Osaka Prefecture Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura added: “We are determined to create the Osaka of the future, where flying cars will soon be traversing the skies, providing residents and visitors with enhanced convenience and vital services.”

SkyDrive is currently testing a two-seater flying car that resembles an outsized drone, with a rotor at each corner. They are also offering a cargo delivery transporter known as SkyLift that could be used to deliver goods to difficult or inaccessible areas.

At a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, Fukuzawa admitted that there are obstacles in the road ahead as the flying car is an aircraft, not an automobile.

“We are talking now about how to change the rules. We don’t have to change the law itself; we only have to amend the current aircraft laws.”

He said that SkyDrive and the government are in talks, along with other companies, to draw up rules for such vehicles, which, he says, are “as safe as any helicopters.”