Technology has changed living. It has changed every aspect of life, made our lives easier and that is the reason we need technology and advancements in every step of our lives. Technology has improved every industry, and without doubt, it is one of the nation’s strongest weapons. Well, many countries are technologically advanced, but Japan tops the list.
NEC Corporation recently demonstrated a wobbly multicopter flying car prototype. NEC and Cartivator both were working on designing, assembling and testing VTOL air taxi ideas. Presently, these two companies exhibited a multi-seated manned multicopter, which is nearly a step towards a flying car. Isn’t it cool?
This flying car is an oversized drone with four large propellers that can carry people as well. In the demo aircraft, there were no passengers, and it utilized four props each one about 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5m) long. It has three wheels and a compact cabin designed to carry people. It was tied with a rope and was placed in a giant cage for safety purposes. Then it was flown in front of the gathered media for about 50 seconds to a height of about 10ft (3m). It is too loud and you will surely need earplugs to cover any distance in it.
According to Bloomberg, the Japanese government wants the country to become a leader in flying cars with plans for a large-scale drone delivery starting around 2023 and VTOL air taxi facilities around 2030. These VTOL multicopters depends on the instant torque and ultra-controllable nature of electric motors; however, lithium batteries are generally heavy and have poor vitality compared to gasoline. So, another fascinating part of this project is hydrogen as liquid hydrogen can give the best results and has much better energy density. Therefore, it is being observed that hydrogen is going to play a part in the future of vehicles.
Kouji Okada, one of the projects leads at NEC, told Bloomberg that “Japan is a densely populated country and that means flying cars could greatly alleviate the burden on road traffic”.
Because of the crowded streets, the Japanese government is emphasizing its people to move around its cities via air by 2030. And, Japan is not the only country trying to introduce these flying cars, companies in the U.S., are also pushing for similar flying cars.
Sources: Bloomberg, Engadget, Yuri Kageyema