Japan has got tired of waiting. So while it gets ready to become the centre of the world during the 2020 Olympic games, the archipelago counts on proving that the world is slowly leaning towards the future that everyone imagined. In this way, two years from now you could well see flying taxis circulating in the country of the rising sun. According to Shinji Tokumasu, the Economy Minister, from commerce and industry, flying cars will ‘resolve transport problems in isolated or mountainous regions, or in the case of rescue missions during natural disasters’. And seeing as natural (and human) disasters favour this part of the world…
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With this in mind, what’s better than surrounding oneself with the biggest foreign companies. The American giants Uber and Boeing, as well as the European aircraft manufacturer Aribus, have been invited to join in the development of flying cars. Among them, it seems that Airbus has taken the lead with the creation of several prototypes: the CityAirbus, for example, will be able to take up to four passengers on board. Another project, the Vahana, an electric propulsion device, with vertical take-off and landing like that of a helicopter, carried out its first experimental flight in February 2018.
Lighting the torch from the sky
Japan in this way is multiplying runways thanks to the enthusiasm of global giants in the aeronautical, automobile and technology sectors. A roadmap should see the light of day by the end of the year. The first attempts on Japanese soil are set for 2019. Lighting the torch for the Olympic games from the sky aboard a flying taxi could be in our sights. And after that? Japan hopes to spread these new transport models by 2027. The future is near.
