Ages ago, our parents and our parents' parents promised us an exciting future full of useful tech, robots, and flying cars. We'd zip around like George Jetson, have jet packs, Star Trek-like replicators, and more. And then the world just collectively said, "Nah, bro, that's just fantasy. We ain't ever getting there."
It still feels like having the rug pulled out from under our feet, as we scrape by as social media became the dominant force in tech, for better and worse.
Luckily, there are still folks who long for that bright, shiny, and wild future we were promised. Folks who will push the boundaries of science and technology and attempt to bring forth something new and novel. Folks who want for more. And some of those folks work for motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki, which just recently announced that it had partnered with SkyDrive, a startup out of Japan that promises to make eVTOL electric helicopter taxis that you and I could theoretically take all around Tokyo.
I'm ready to visit Japan, Suzuki, just say the word.
SkyDrive recently took to the skies for demonstration flights around Osaka, Japan, at Expo 2025, which was hosted by the city. According to the company, "The flight loops, of a few minutes in duration, took the SkyDrive up and out from the Expo venue’s vertiport and over the ocean in Osaka Bay."
SkyDrive also stated that a number of high-profile VIPs were also included in the test flights, including "Hirofumi Yoshimura, the Governor of Osaka Prefecture, Kazunori Tanaka, Chairman of the Diet Members’ Association for the Promotion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (also referred to as the diet member’s Drone Association ), Yoshiro Taguchi, Director-General of the Aviation Network Department, Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, Furuichi Shigeru, Director, Advanced Air Mobility Office, Takeshi Ito, Associate Director General of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Kenichi Fujino, Representative Executive Officer and Vice President of The Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated, the company supplying SkyDrive with equipment for charging our aircraft."
Not among them at the event, but no less important, is Suzuki, which agreed to manufacture the eVTOL taxis for SkyDrive.
Production of the eVTOL taxis began in March of this year, with Toshihiro Suzuki, the company's President, attending the first riveting ceremony for the eVTOL machines. It's unclear how many have been made so far, but SkyDrive is hoping that in addition to the demonstration flights it's currently conducting, it can secure a partnership with both corporate partners around the world and Japan, as well as Osaka Metro to supplement the city's rail services with the brand's helicopters.
What I want to know, however, is because I know how to ride a motorcycle, can I fly these eVTOL helicopters? I mean, our friend Jen Dunstan just did it, and now I'm contemplating moving to Japan to find out.
