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Toyota-backed flying car zooms toward commercial reality

Volunteer team Cartivator launches company and secures $2.6m injection

Work proceeds on a prototype flying car at Skydrive, the company set up by volunteer auto engineering group Cartivator.
Work proceeds on a prototype flying car at Skydrive, the company set up by volunteer auto engineering group Cartivator.

TOKYO -- A group of volunteer engineers supported by Toyota Motor is making strides toward making cars fly, incorporating as a separate company and securing a 300 million yen ($2.66 million) investment as it seeks to outrun international competitors.

The investment in Skydrive, set up this summer by the engineer group Cartivator, comes from the roughly 5 billion yen sequel to a fund specializing in drone technology first set up in 2017 by investor Kotaro Chiba. The second fund's backers include Mizuho Financial Group unit Mizuho Bank and mobile provider KDDI.

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