Hyperdrive

New Japanese Flying Car Gets Off the Ground, for About a Minute

A prototype of NEC’s flying car.Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

It was caged and only hovered for about a minute, but it flew: a new flying car.

Made by NEC Corp., the vehicle is essentially a large drone with four propellers that’s capable of carrying people. The Japanese electronics maker demonstrated the machine, flying without a passenger, at a Tokyo suburb on Monday. Powered by a battery, it rose briefly to about 3 meters (10 ft.) above the ground before settling down again.