Ignition Australia Ignition June 2017 AUS JOOMAG | Page 29

Take to the skies
Toyota's Skydrive project to launch in 2018
T
he promise of flying cars The Skydrive will be 2.9 meters hatch and a fully loaded propulsion
is has long, 1.3 meters wide and 1.1 system for when the driver is ready
filled our imagination for meters high, making it the worlds to take to the sky.
decades. With the huge smallest flying car. It has a targeted The main body of the car will be
technological flight speed of 100 km/ph and a constructed with a tensile skin that
something
that
leaps
we
have had in recent years,
driving speed of 150 km/ph.
you would think that we would have Skydrive
been soaring through the skies in commonly found in drones, including
our flying cars by now. The team at the use of four rotor blades on each
Toyota are on a mission to turn that corner of the vehicle. The driver can
dream into a reality, aiming to launch vary the speed of each rotor which
their will conversley change the direction
Skydrive
project
in
2018.
features
technology
The ultimate goal is
to have a Skydrive
vehicle fly in and
light the flame at
the 2020 Olympic
Games in Tokyo.
The idea behind Skydrive began of travel. back in 2012 when a team of 30 The Skydrive will hover at a height Toyota employees began developing of ten meters above the ground and their idea for a flying car in their will use vertical take-off and landing stretches around a flexible frame.
spare time. After presenting their technology which does not require The vehicle will be driven by a
concept, Toyota has now got behind roads or runways. power system including a battery
the project, providing funding and The the pack, internal combustion engine
concept testing with the view to Skydrive, is an 'aerocar' that could turbine, fuel cell and other energy
have a manned prototype take to transition from a land automobile conversion devices.
the skies by 2018. The ultimate into a flying machine. Toyota believe a commercial version
goal is to have a Skydrive vehicle fly Designed shape-shifting of the Skydrive will go on sale to the
in and light the flame at the 2020 skin, the Skydrive has wings hidden public by 2023 and will be available
Olympic Games in Tokyo. under the body that pop out from a to the mass market by 2030.
main
premise
with
a
behind
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