Flying Car: Suzuki has started making a flying car, it will fly at a top speed of 100 km

The world is working on making a flying car. Flying cars are close to becoming a reality in India too. Suzuki Motor Corporation has started manufacturing a flying car in collaboration with Skydrive Inc. It is manufactured at Suzuki's manufacturing plant in Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The plant can produce 100 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flying cars a year. The flying car is fully electric and automatic.

Flying cars are also known as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) or Urban Air Mobility (UAM). In June 2023, Suzuki and SkyDrive signed a production cooperation agreement for the production of the SkyDrive (SD-05 type) by SkyDrive's subsidiary SkyWorks Inc.

Suzuki-SkyDrive flying car

The eVTOL flying car is an electric powered drone with automatic features like autopilot. The Skydrive e-VTOL is a compact, three-seat drone that typically operates like a helicopter. It is capable of landing and taking off.

The flying car will have a range of 15 minutes which means it will cover a distance of about 15 km in 15 minutes. So its top speed is 100 km per hour. The company is trying to increase its range to 40 km.

The demand for personal transportation has been at its peak in recent years. Due to which the traffic in urban areas has increased. However, air taxis could be the future of public transportation to make it easier to move between cities without bypassing traffic.

Apart from Suzuki and Skydrive, other auto manufacturers are also trying to create flying cars or air taxis. The first company is the PAL-V Liberty, which sold the first commercial flying car in 2017 for 4,25,000 pounds (roughly Rs. 3.52 crore).

This is followed by Korean car company Hyundai. Hyundai is preparing to launch an air taxi in 2028. Like the SkyDrive, Hyundai's flying car is based on the e-VTOL concept. But five people can sit in this mini aircraft.

Another flying car prototype is the AirCar, designed by Nitra-based Klein Vision in 2022. Two passengers can sit in it. It flies at a speed of about 190 kmph and can fly at a height of more than 8,000 feet in the air. This flying car is powered by a 300 hp, 1.6 liter BMW engine with a range of 1,000 km.

Flying car in India

Skydrive will also launch a flying car in India. The company introduced the flying car at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024. Apart from this, Skydrive Inc. also announced an agreement with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to test flying cars in Gujarat by 2027.

As per the cooperation agreement with DST, apart from the tests, SkyDrive is also planning to create business opportunities. The Japanese aircraft company has signed an MoU with Cyient for Skydrive flying cars in India. Cyient is a Hyderabad-based Indian company that will provide technology support to SkyDrive.