* Toyota has teamed up with tech company, Cartivator, to create flying cars
* The “Skydrive” is planned to be unveiled at the 2020 Olympics
* Toyota is investing more than $9 billion in flying technology
With Toyota’s latest flying car experiment, the Japanese automaker is one step closer to bringing their line of cars to the sky.
Toyota has partnered with Cartivator Resource Management, a little-known tech company that’s promising big results over the next few years. According to reports, the “Skydrive” will be able to fly up to 33 feet and soar at speeds up to 66 mph. At barely under 10 feet long, the Skydrive is currently the world’s smallest planned flying electric vehicle.
While Toyota joins the ranks of other flying car manufacturers, including Uber, EHang and Airbus, Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes the future lies below ground, not above it.
Toyota has already announced plans to invest more than $9 billion in new flying technology. With growing fuel costs and emerging green technology, Toyota hopes to cash in on the inevitable switch to more fuel-efficient — and eventually entirely electric — vehicles. Unlike companies like Ford and Audi, Toyota already has a solid footing when it comes to energy-efficient vehicles. In fact, the Prius is one of the biggest-selling cars in the world. It’s also one of the highest-rated.
As for timetables, Toyota hopes to have manned drivers inside their flying cars by 2019 and have the technology perfected and ready to showcase at the 2020 Olympics.
