Toyota-backed flying car zooms toward commercial reality

Volunteer team Cartivator launches company and secures $2.6m injection

20181102N Skydrive

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

KAZUYUKI OKUDAIRA, Nikkei senior staff writer

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.

Sponsored Content

About Sponsored ContentThis content was commissioned by Nikkei's Global Business Bureau.