SkyDrive completes first public manned flight of its eVTOL aircraft
eVTOL developer SkyDrive has conducted the first public flight demo of its new single-seater SD-03 flying car in Japan.
Designed to be the world’s smallest eVTOL model as a means of transportation, the four-minute flight took place earlier this week at the 2.5‑acre Toyota test Field, which is one of the country’s largest test fields and home to the company’s development base.
A pilot was at the controls, while a computer-assisted control system helped ensure flight stability and safety and technical staff monitored flight conditions and aircraft performance at all times as backup.
Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive, said: “We are extremely excited to have achieved Japan’s first-ever manned flight of a flying car in the two years since we founded SkyDrive in 2018, with the goal of commercialising such aircraft.
“We want to realise a society where flying cars are an accessible and convenient means of transportation in the skies and people are able to experience a safe, secure, and comfortable new way of life.
“We also aspire to develop markets around the world, in collaboration with our partner companies, so that an urban air mobility society with aircraft supplied by SkyDrive becomes a reality not only in Japan, but also across the globe.”
The SD-03 measures two meters high, four meters wide and four meters long, only requiring as much space on the ground as two parked cars.
The powertrain consists of electric motors that drive rotors deployed in four locations, with each location housing two rotors that individually rotate in opposite directions, each driven by its own motor.
The use of eight motors is a means of ensuring safety in emergency situations during flight and as such aims to address compliance standards and allay potential regulatory concerns.
SkyDrive will now continue to conduct test flights under an expanding range of conditions in order to improve its technologies further and achieve full compliance with the safety provisions of the Civil Aeronautics Act.
Nobuo Kishi, SkyDrive’s Chief Technology Officer, said: The manned flight we have achieved this time is the culmination of SkyDrive’s achievements for technical verification.
“We have been working on the design of electric propulsion systems, flight control systems, aircraft structures, testing, manufacturing, and introducing monitoring equipment for aircraft conditions during flight testing step by step, and with a considerable sense of speed.
“We will continue to develop technologies and acquire type certification so that safe and secure flying car operation services can be launched in fiscal 2023.”
Based on the results of SD-03 testing, SkyDrive says it aims to obtain approval for flights outside the limits of the Toyota Test Field before the end of this year.