The latest prototype of the SkyDrive ‘flying car’.

SkyDrive, a company founded by former employees of Toyota, has reportedly begun manned flight trials of its prototype flying car, seen above. According to sources within SkyDrive, the company conducted indoor test flights last month at Toyota’s headquarters in Japan.

Originally called Cartivator, the company now known as SkyDrive has made major strides in the past few months, including the testing of a heavy-payload cargo drone, and a $14 million financing deal.

The SkyDrive team began work on its air vehicle in 2017, and plans to use an unmanned version of the SkyDrive to light the olympic torch in the coming 2020 summer olympics. This would mark the company’s first public demonstration of its personal flight technology.

SkyDrive’s concept for the final single-seater vehicle, which it plans to begin selling to the public in 2023.

Notably, SkyDrive is not Toyota’s only connection to the world of aerial mobility. Just last week, Toyota invested $394 million into Uber Elevate Partner Joby Aviation. Said Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, “Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota…we hope to deliver freedom of movement and enjoyment to customers everywhere, on land, and now, in the sky.”

A small-scale model of the concept final version of the SkyDrive.

Why it’s important: Although SkyDrive is a smaller and fairly new company, it has high aspirations as an aerial mobility provider, and excellent resources from Toyota. The SkyDrive team has remained dedicated to building a prototype that’s ready to light the Olympic torch in 2020, which has the enormous potential of introducing the world to passenger-capable aerial vehicles. This would mark mark a major step both for the company and for the industry as a whole.

Related:

EHang’s newest White Paper explores urban air Mobility vehicle and infrastructure design, applications of technology, the current regulatory landscape, and the path towards commercialization. 

The EHang 216 AAV, which has already undergone many test flights and is nearly ready for commercial launch.

EHang (Nasdaq: EH), one of the world’s leading autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) technology companies, has published its first white paper on the future of transportation and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). The white paper explores UAM’s potential to transform transportation globally with insights into vehicle design, an overview of potential applications and the current regulatory landscape, and recommendations for how to optimize UAM’s path towards commercialization.

“UAM and the widespread use of passenger and cargo AAVs will transform how people and goods move around urban areas,” said Mr. Huazhi Hu, the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of EHang. “The successful deployment of AAVs will help cities improve efficiency, enhance safety, cut costs, and become more environmentally sustainable.”

A clip from EHang’s first U.S trial flight in North Carolina.

EHang’s key points from the white paper include:

• UAM will be safer, more effective, and more immediately deployable if it structurally resembles an on-demand bus system with centralized oversight and set point-to-point routes rather than a taxi system with diffuse routes.

• The success of UAM will depend on commercial operations that are centrally managed. This is a different model from the traditional airline industry in which hundreds of airlines globally compete with each other, leading to smaller margins.

• Key characteristics of a successful UAM system include: autonomous services (i.e. pilotless passenger and cargo transportation); point-to-point, straight-line, fixed air routes; a centralized command-and-control platform that manages all AAV flights within a certain area; a shared economy (i.e. no individual ownership of AAVs); and a reliance on green energy.

• In order to ensure that safety remains the top priority for vehicle design, AAVs need to include: power source redundancy (e.g. by having multiple motors and propellers); completely autonomous operations; back-up / duplicate flight control, communications, and navigation systems.

• Based on EHang’s modeling for future commercial operations, a straight-line trip on an AAV could be cheaper for the user than a current New York City taxi ride covering the same distance, all while still being profitable to the operator. Furthermore, the model used is highly conservative since it does not capture the efficiency gains of future economies of scale, improved battery technologies, etc.

• While the AAV conversation has mostly focused on urban spaces, there are broad non-urban applications for services currently being provided by helicopters, including in search and rescue, emergency medical services, offshore operations, oil and gas, firefighting, forestry, power-line repair and surveys, agriculture and pest control, media, aerial photography, and law enforcement.

• The successful development of a UAM ecosystem will require deep collaboration between UAM vehicle providers, UAM network operators, infrastructure developers, telecommunication network partners, city, regional and national governments, etc.

Read the full white paper from EHang here.

EHang has already commercialized its passenger-grade AAVs, having delivered 38 units to customers as of December 5, 2019, and is actively working to make UAM an everyday reality in cities worldwide. To date, EHang has safely conducted over two thousand test flights both inside and outside of China to ensure that its AAVs operate safely and reliably. 

Why it’s important: With the new white paper, EHang has joined the likes of Uber Elevate, Volocopter, and Airbus on outlining its vision for the future of aerial mobility through white paper. The Chinese company has certainly earned credibility recently, having recently opened on the NASDAQ with a $662 million valuation, and completing its first trial flight in the U.S in North Carolina. With the publishing of this white paper along with its other recent successes, EHang marks its place among the top aerial mobility companies worldwide.

Other recent news about EHang:

• EHang Successfully Completes First U.S Trial Flight
• EHang’s IPO Results in $662 Million Valuation
• EHang takes new step towards launching pilotless air taxi route in Guangzhou

SkyDrive, a Japanese flying car developer, completed its first tests flights in late 2019 and demonstrated carrying a heavy payload (44 pounds) in a remote location.

SkyDrive is developing the cargo drone for use in industries that carry heavy materials on complex terrain such as slopes, mountain valleys, overpasses, power transmission towers, civil engineering/construction sites, agricultural fields, etc. Usage of cargo drones will help avoid dangerous works, save personnel and shorten the term of works. In realizing its goals, SkyDrive can contribute to responding to labor shortages and improving Japan’s labor productivity sagging due to its declining population.

SkyDrive’s drone prototype which successfully flew a 44 pound payload.

Last year, SkyDrive received $14M USD in funding from various third parties including Drone Fund, Z Corporation, STRIVE III Limited Liability Partnership, ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc. and Energy & Environment Investment, Inc. SkyDrive’s prototype is 4 feet in length and 5.5 feet wide. It can fly for 15 minutes carrying a maximum payload of 60 pounds.

SkyDrive Chief Executive Tomohiro Fukuzawa said: “We are delighted to successfully test this world-leading technology. Our cargo drone has proven to deliver by safely lifting loads of up to 20kg in a mountainous area — saving time and money. “We look forward to expanding on this success by testing heavier loads for customers in the future. Our quest is to create cutting-edge technology that will improve the productivity of businesses across the world — and today we celebrate a key milestone in making that happen.”

The company has also announced plans to develop a flying car and begin mass production by 2026.

Why it matters: SkyDrive is joining a crowded commercial drone space in the UAS industry, however, its funding and technological expertise position it to succeed among the competition. With the completion of the company’s initial test flights, the technical specifications have been demonstrated. Further, the research and development of their drone will trickle down into its flying car aspirations.