Japanese company successfully tests a manned flying car for the first time

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A Japanese company has announced the successful test drive of a flying car.

Sky Drive Inc. conducted the public demonstration on August 25, the company said in a news release, at the Toyota Test Field, one of the largest in Japan and home to the car company's development base. It was the first public demonstration for a flying car in Japanese history.
The car, named SD-03, manned with a pilot, took off and circled the field for about four minutes.
"We are extremely excited to have achieved Japan's first-ever manned flight of a flying car in the two years since we founded SkyDrive... with the goal of commercializing such aircraft," CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa said in a statement.


Source
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/29/us/flying-car-successful-test-in-japan-trnd/index.html

Looks like the dream of flying cars may not be to far off



At mods sorry if wrong place to post this or if its been posted already if so you can deleted it
 
In whose definition is that a car? Looks more like a helicopter to me.
 
It’s not a flying car, it’s a drivable aircraft. Those have been around since the 1940s. Every couple of years a new company comes along and tries to sell this generation’s AeroCar.
D3B6B59D-F0D6-4E8B-B1B4-6283F32E0791.jpeg
Flying cars are never going to be a thing. They require a pilot’s license, and most people are too incompetent to ever be qualified to operate an aircraft. Think of how many morons you see on the drive to work. How many drink-drivers and texting-while-driving clowns there are. Now imagine them operating in 3D space where they can crash into an office block or through your roof. If you lose control at 30mph and hit a tree, it’ll suck but you’ll walk away most likely. You lose control at 3k ft, and you’re guaranteed dead.
 
It’s not a flying car, it’s a drivable aircraft. Those have been around since the 1940s. Every couple of years a new company comes along and tries to sell this generation’s AeroCar.View attachment 953553 Flying cars are never going to be a thing. They require a pilot’s license, and most people are too incompetent to ever be qualified to operate an aircraft. Think of how many morons you see on the drive to work. How many drink-drivers and texting-while-driving clowns there are. Now imagine them operating in 3D space where they can crash into an office block or through your roof. If you lose control at 30mph and hit a tree, it’ll suck but you’ll walk away most likely. You lose control at 3k ft, and you’re guaranteed dead.

This. Flying car = bad airplane + really bad car
 
It's not a car if it doesn't have wheels. It's otherwise an personal VTOL aircraft. Get your facts straight CNN.

Also, unless they can achieve a 20k or under price, this won't be practical for the average Joe to acquire.
 
I can see the commercial side turning into military applications. Seriously doubt the everyday man will be flying these in this decade.

Til then, I'd expect to see a white one with black stripes and this on both the sides:
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To add to Frank's rationale, pretend that we're in a world where driver's licenses aren't handed out to just anyone and then remember the fact that you can't come to an emergency stop to avoid an accident in mid-air. I can't even see systems adapted from radar-guided cruise control to ever be that good.
 
It will be impossible for such things to become anything more than niche hypercar-like toys in the US unless the FAA and NHTSA come to agreements with respect to car safety and aircraft certification combination standards, as well as operator certification standards, and that's not going to happen within my lifetime. We already have "sport pilot" certification in the US since 2005 in an effort to expand accessibility and there are still only 6,500 certificated sport pilots in the country, mostly because the limitations make it relatively useless for much of anything.
 
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