On February 17, Japan's two-seat "flying car" conducted its first outdoor manned test flight of a flying car in Oita City, southwest Japan, and it was also the first time that such a vehicle approved by the Ministry of Transport in Japan successfully flew outdoors.
The Japanese two-seater "flying car" was successfully tested on February 17. Source: Nikkei Asian Review
The test was conducted by the Okayama Kurashiki Mizushima Aerospace Industry Research Association (MASC), a private organization consisting mainly of aviation and automobile-related companies that aim to create an aerospace industry cluster.
"The flight was comfortable, without any shaking, only a slight vibration felt when circling," MASC Chairman Hiroshi Kirino said after riding in the "flying car". Oita Mayor Kiichiro Sato believes that from a technical point of view, flying cars have reached a point where they can be put into practical use. He called for it to be available in Oita City in 2025.
Japan aims to have the "flying car" fly commercially for the first time at Expo 2025 in Osaka. In addition, the Japanese government will introduce a new pilot's license for "flying cars", as well as a mechanic's license to repair "flying cars".
As early as 1917, American Glenn Hammond Curtis brought the first flying car in human history at the Pan American Airshow in New York, a flying car with an aluminum fuselage and fixed wings.
According to institutional data, there are more than 160 flying car companies in the world, mainly in the United States and Europe. The research and development of Continental flying cars is also developing rapidly, including Airbus, Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences, Geely Automobile, Xpeng Motors, Aston Martin, Tencent, Uber, EHang Intelligent and other aircraft manufacturing companies, automobile manufacturing companies and technology companies. According to some institutions, the global market size of flying cars will reach 300 billion US dollars in 2030; The global urban air mobility industry is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2040.
Source: Network
On January 30, 2023, Xpeng Huitian, an ecological enterprise under Xpeng, announced that its self-developed Voyager X2 has officially obtained the charter flight certificate issued by the Central and South Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China, making the Voyager X2 the first manned eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) product to apply for and be successfully approved in China. Xpenghuitian said that the Central and Southern Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China has verified the Voyager X2 in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "CCAR-21 Civil Aviation Products and Parts Qualification Regulations", recognized that the Voyager X2 can safely carry out flight activities under the concession conditions, and issued a chartered flight certificate.
It is reported that the current path of eVTOL products is roughly divided into two categories, one is to adopt a land-air integrated design, "can run and fly"; The other is to take vertical lifting manned aerial vehicles as the focus of research and development, which is the embodiment of the acceleration of the research and development of flying cars.
On February 5, 2023, Geely Technology announced that its flying car manufacturer Wofei Changkong recently completed the first flight of the Year of the Rabbit, marking a new stage in the flight test verification of the AE200 X01 series. AE200 is a 5-seat pure electric power vertical take-off and landing manned aircraft (flying car) independently developed by Wofei Changkong. It aims at urban circles and intercity travel scenarios, has the characteristics of high performance, high safety and high comfort, meets the diversified travel needs of urban agglomerations/intercities, and has rich use expansion capabilities.
Although many aircraft manufacturing companies, automobile manufacturing companies and technology companies continue to surpass on the road of deploying flying cars, but as an industry that is still in the experimental stage, the popularity of flying cars still needs enough time, whether in the formulation of relevant laws and regulations or in the safety of air flight, flying cars need to break through the shackles are still many, whether flying cars can really be used by human beings, help human actual life, will also be clear in practice.
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Source: Hexun.com, IT House, Science and Technology Daily, Southern Metropolis Daily, etc
Author: Jesse
Editor: Dina Zhao
Reviewed: Gong Zimo
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