Osaka Governor Wants Flying Cars by 2024

Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura used a press conference last week to outline his ambitions for eVTOL (flying cars), including the target of having the first practical operations begin over Osaka Bay in 2024.

“We would like to reach the stage of having customers riding in the vehicles by 2024,” the governor said, “This would be over the seas, such as a route between Universal Studios Japan and Yumeshima, or connecting Osaka Bay. We’d like to see the flights begin in 2024 and launch in earnest in 2025.”

The governor added, “We also need to prepare the surrounding environment, such as the social aspects. Because people looking at the skies will start seeing flying cars there, it is necessary to have social acceptance.”

The governor added that his government will be signing a partnership agreement with the startup SkyDrive tomorrow at which a model eVTOL will be exhibited.

In a followup question, Yoshimura also indicated that if other eVTOL firms enter discussions with the prefectural government, additional agreements are possible.

Last November, the so-called Osaka Roundtable on a Moving Revolution Society in the Sky was launched, with the inaugural members being Osaka Prefecture and 41 private companies and organizations.

Osaka hopes to feature eVTOL exhibitions for the 2025 World Expo at Yumeshima, which is one of the reasons why the prefecture is among the most proactive.

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