They’re something that most commuters dread, but traffic jams could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new flying car.
Japanese firm NEC Corp has tested a new flying car in Tokyo this week.
The device is essentially a large battery-powered drone with four propellers, that’s big enough to carry human passengers.
During the test flight, the car hovered around three metres above the ground for one minute, before settling back down.
To ensure nothing went wrong, the test flight took place inside a large cage, and the car was tethered to the ground.
Speaking to Bloombefrg , Kouji Okada, who is leading the flying car project, said: “Japan is a densely populated country and that means flying cars could greatly alleviate the burden on road traffic.
“We are positioning ourselves as an enabler for air mobility, providing location data and building communications infrastructure for flying cars.”
While NEC isn’t planning to mass-produce the flying car itself, project partner Cartivator will start mass-producing it by 2026, according to Tomohiro Fukuzawa, Cartivator’s co-founder.
However, the tech start-up will face stiff competition from several other firms, who are racing to be the first to get a commercial flying car into the skies.
Other big-names joining Cartivator in the race include Uber, Boeing, and Kitty Hawk.
