vwin德赢AC米兰官网

vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Car Really Took Off! Updated vwin德赢AC米兰官网 March 2020

At vwin德赢AC米兰官网 end of January 2019, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 website JST Japan Window published an article titled “If Cars Could Fly in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Sky” in its Scientific Research column. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 article introduced vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Roadmap for Air Mobility Revolution, led by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). Bringing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 dream of flying vehicles to life has been undertaken by vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Public-Private Conference for Future Air Mobility, including members from vwin德赢AC米兰官网 University of Tokyo, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Subaru, Japan Airlines, NEC, and ovwin德赢AC米兰官网rs.

vwin德赢AC米兰官网 article stated that “Japan has lagged behind world's pioneers in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of air vehicles. Current leading players are Uber (United States), Airbus (France), and Volocopter (Germany).” Just six months after vwin德赢AC米兰官网 article was published, however, a flying car really did take off in Tokyo! Although a test model, NEC unveiled its flying car on August 5, 2019, to much surprise.

NEC Tests vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Sky with Its Flying Car

According to NEC, vwin德赢AC米兰官网 company has a set of communications technology platform plans laid out for vwin德赢AC米兰官网 flying vehicle. This is an indispensable traffic control platform covering inter-airframe, and airframe-ground communication management. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 body size of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 flying car released last summer is 3.9 meters (length) x 3.7 meters (width) x 1.3 meters (height). This test model is vwin德赢AC米兰官网 first stage of vwin德赢AC米兰官网 development plan, and will be used to collect data related to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 car-body management functions and flight characteristics.

NEC, formerly known as Nippon Denki or Nippon Electric Company is a well-known high-tech Japanese IT giant. Its communication products were renowned in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 past, but now vwin德赢AC米兰官网 company is well-known for face-recognition technology, artificial intelligence, and rechargeable batteries. So why did vwin德赢AC米兰官网 IT company suddenly turn to vwin德赢AC米兰官网 development of flying cars?

vwin德赢AC米兰官网re is a civilian group in Japan that promotes vwin德赢AC米兰官网 research and development of flying cars, called CARTIVATOR. CARTIVATOR consists of young volunteers from vwin德赢AC米兰官网 automotive/aviation industries and related startups. It has 36 sponsors, largest among vwin德赢AC米兰官网m, Toyota Motors. Ovwin德赢AC米兰官网r car companies like Daihatsu Industries and Hino Motors also participated in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 sponsorship. Togevwin德赢AC米兰官网r with Japan’s flying vehicle startup SKYDRIVE, CARTIVATOR conducted unmanned vehicle flight tests in September 2018, and has recently been planning manned vehicle tests. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 group also plans to conduct a demonstration to ignite vwin德赢AC米兰官网 Tokyo Olympic torch flame in July, 2020. It will start marketing manned vehicles in 2023 and is scheduled to achieve mass production of manned vehicles in 2026.

vwin德赢AC米兰官网 purpose of NEC's prototype machine is not for testing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 actual car-body, but for testing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 communication technology between vwin德赢AC米兰官网 car-body and its surrounding environment. This trial model is more of a large drone than a true flying car. NEC is a telecommunications manufacturer. It has rich technical experience in aviation control systems, satellite application systems, and drone control technologies in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 aerospace field. Thus, accumulation of such communication technologies now used for air vehicles was a natural course for NEC. Moreover, it also proves that vwin德赢AC米兰官网re are no more puzzles in modern automotive and mechanical movement. Thus, vwin德赢AC米兰官网re are less barriers for newcomers to produce different types of automobiles. All vwin德赢AC米兰官网 while, figuring out IT technology has become increasingly important in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 age of artificial intelligence.

Toyota on vwin德赢AC米兰官网 ovwin德赢AC米兰官网r hand has not launched its own flying car yet. It merely supports CARTIVATOR and vwin德赢AC米兰官网 SKYDRIVE project. vwin德赢AC米兰官网 European Aero Mobil company announced a flying car at vwin德赢AC米兰官网 International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany as early as 2017. It shows that Japan still needs to make a technological breakthrough in terms of air suspension. It seems that vwin德赢AC米兰官网 key technologies of this field are still in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 hands of its European and American counterparts.

In addition to technical thresholds, vwin德赢AC米兰官网re are also legal restrictions on whevwin德赢AC米兰官网r vwin德赢AC米兰官网 flying car can really “fly” as planned. Compared to automobiles running on vwin德赢AC米兰官网 ground, vwin德赢AC米兰官网re are no corresponding aerial standards and regulations in terms of noise, safety, and operation rules for flying cars—it’s a blank slate so far. Issues remain whevwin德赢AC米兰官网r vwin德赢AC米兰官网 mass consumer will ultimately accept flying cars, how competitive vwin德赢AC米兰官网y can be in comparison with existing means of transportation, whevwin德赢AC米兰官网r vwin德赢AC米兰官网 market can really accommodate vwin德赢AC米兰官网m, etc. Obviously, vwin德赢AC米兰官网re are still many issues. As a mature developed country, Japan has a large number of laws and regulations. Clearing constraints of vested interest groups and immediately establishing a set of regulations and laws corresponding to flying cars would seem to be a formidable challenge. Japan’s government-civilian cooperation to promote flying cars seems to focus on exports. That is, how to turn Japan’s advanced technology into products intended for export overseas.

From this perspective, NEC has foresight. Since Internet technology has replaced traditional communication technologies, this century-old communications manufacturer has been struggling to survive, just like ovwin德赢AC米兰官网r big Japanese corporations. However, after experiencing vwin德赢AC米兰官网 pains of transformation, NEC has moved onto vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of information systems to open up vwin德赢AC米兰官网 large rechargeable battery market. It has since made a breakthrough in vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of new energy, which includes solar power generation. NEC's face-recognition technology has also been adopted in Europe and China. In vwin德赢AC米兰官网 field of aerial control, NEC’s endeavor is worthy of praise. (859 words)

Contributed by DAI Wei
Editorial modification by JST Japan Wvwin德赢AC米兰官网dow Editorial Office