NEC Japan today tested future Flying Car at NEC facility in Abiko near Tokyo. The big drone-like machine with four propellers hovered steadily for about a minute. The test flight of the Flying Car that reached reaching 3 meters (10 feet) high was held in a gigantic cage, as a safety precaution at the NEC facility. NEC is among the more than 80 sponsor companies for Cartivator’s flying car, which also include Toyota and video game company Bandai Namco Holdings.


NEC said that their flying car is designed for unmanned flights for deliveries. All of the flying car concepts, which are like drones big enough to hold humans, promise to be better than helicopters. Helicopters are expensive to maintain, noisy to fly and require trained pilots. Flying cars also are being touted as useful for disaster relief. Uber is planning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023, and has chosen Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne as the first cities to offer what it calls Uber Air flights. Dubai has also been aggressive about pursuing flying cars.