Toyota wants to commercialise its drone-like vehicle that the company is currently working on. The drone is to soar about 10 meters above the ground with a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
Being called ‘Skydrive’, the drone is being created by Cartivator, a new startup with about 30 young volunteers working with drone expert Masafumi Miwa from Tokushima University. The aim of the company is to get the cars commercialised by 2020 Toyota Olympics to light the torch.
Toyota chipped in around 40 million yen ($353,000) and offered the expertise of its mechanical engineers. Taizo Sun, founder of Japanese web game developer GungHoOnline Entertainment, will also pitch in.
Toyota also has shown keen interest in investing in technology and plans to invest $9.3bn. “Things will not progress if you wait and provide money only when the technology is ready,” Toyota Chairman Takeshi Ichiyamada.
