Just don’t leave Uber to the testing.
In a bid to pioneer an emerging industry, the Japanese government has forced together an enormous gathering of 21 corporations, including carmaker Toyota, mobility service Uber, and aeronautical bigwigs Boeing to make flying cars a reality, a report has detailed. A working group has been formed, with a first meeting earmarked for August 29th, and a 12-month plan about to be decided on.
“It’s necessary for a government to take a lead and coordinate on setting safety standards. They are trying to set a tone for the industry ahead of other countries.” — Yasuo Hashimoto, Researcher, Japan Aviation Management Research
The government would like to be able to get flying cars off the ground in the next decade, and so the working group will help Japan to understand what it needs to regulate, how it needs to go about it, and what allowances it has to afford the industry to permit rapid growth of the flying car sector and place Japan at the absolute forefront of the burgeoning market, according to the Bloomberg report.
Uber, notably, has already begun work on an air-taxi service which they say will be able to go to a trial phase in 2020, and be commercially-available by 2023. With real-world expertise from Boeing, Toyota, and even Japan Airlines, it’s possible that this move by the Japanese government will cement its position as a leader in the personal-avionics space, and realise Japan’s dreams of such vehicles not only alleviating traffic congestion, but also provide alternative connectivity for disaster relief, and access to areas with difficult terrain.
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