Flying cars are slowly but surely coming to reality thanks to Skydrive, in partnership with Toyota that now has a fully working flying electric car. The two-seater has been in development for some time now with the last testing being done quite recently.

Many other companies have been linked to having projects of their own of the same nature, but Toyota seems to be louder and quicker about their “world’s smallest flying vehicle”.

Developed in collaboration with the Japanese startup, SkyDrive Inc, the car is built as a two-seater vehicle that is 3.6m long and 1.7m wide. On flight though, the car stands at 3.1 m wide as the propellers come out then.

While on the ground, the car can travel at a respectable 60km/hr, while in the sky it can fly at speeds of 100km/hr, according to SkyDrive. Additionally, the car is able to fly up to 50m above the ground even though this is not concluded as the maximum altitude.

Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive looks forward to this project completion saying, “We are clear that our product will improve the lives of consumers right across the world by providing efficiency of movement and creating happiness in flying – be it linking people to jobs, their family or a dream holiday.”

The company is clearly eager to unveil the product for production and sale considering its ambitious timelines. It predicts that the flying cars will be on sale to the public in 2023, while mass-production will begin by 2026. Nothing has been revealed about other specifications and shipping but we are sure to find out more with time.

https://youtu.be/ibGtPfp_Ev0

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The four-door fully electric sedan, called Vision-S, took to the stage with a goal of showcasing the tech companies diverse strengths. Well, they don’t have to convince us twice as absolutely no one had an idea that this would be one of the products up for presentation.

With Sony’s famous expertise on camera sensors, one of the main highlights of the Vision-S, of course, was the various sensors that it would carry. According to Sony, the Vision-S features 33 sensors inside and outside mainly for detection during autonomous driving and for detecting the car’s occupants for gesture control detection.

This is alongside an ultra-wide dashboard-spanning screen, 360-degree audio and always-on connectivity, with some pieces coming from companies like BlackBerry and Bosch.

The external design tends to look a lot like a Porsche from the streamline to the headlights but Sony is yet to show what kind of finesse the car will brag of. Speaking on stage, Sony’s CEO emphasised the prototype is set to embody the company’s “contribution to the future of mobility”.

This, however, leaves us in a daze as no information was revealed on whether Sony plans to begin production or whether they even intend on producing it at all. This is mainly because the car was revealed at the tail end of Sony’s CES press conference, where the PS5 logo was also unveiled.

Much is yet to be known about the Vision-S but it has definitely excited the masses since no one expected this from a giant known mainly for personal, home and entertainment tech.

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While waiting for such laws to be made here, the fact that even politicians can’t see to agree on a way to preserve the biggest forests in the country makes one almost give up. But we have brains and we imagine stuff. And with my growing love for the upcoming electric cars, let’s try and figure out what owning one, say, Tesla would be like in these Kenyan roads.

Cost

One thing Kenyans are not particularly known for is purchasing new cars. Almost every single car you see filling these roads has been owned before by some guy in a first-world country who then got rid of it because they wanted to upgrade. Yes, there are some really sweet-looking pieces out here but let’s be real here about the costs.

Let’s say you are rich enough and you want a Tesla and you wanted to check out the latest models. The famous Model X (the one with Falcon doors) goes for about Kes.8.4 million. All this is minus the insanely high taxes that people pay to import a car. So, roughly you would be spending close to Kes.10 million to just have one car here or maybe even more. Don’t even get me started on the crazy prizes from other brands like Porsche.

Okay, let’s go the cheapest Model 3 that goes for about Kes.3.6 million. You will still have the taxes probably at the same rates as the Model X so roughly Kes.5 million.

Battery

Remember that this is an all-electric car that requires you to charge just like you do your phone. First of all, that would be awesome since that means goodbye to the ever-rising fuel charges and you get to be a part of the worthy course of reducing the amount of carbon emissions. But you would be required to have a charger at your home for the car. This is considering there are no supercharger terminals here so you might want to never be caught up with a low charge.

Moreover, I do not think long-distance travelling in the car. Yes, a single charge in a Model 3 lasts up to around 200 km if you are power efficient. But any distance more than that would certainly leave you in the street with a dead battery, well dead car.

Yes, there are a couple of electric Nissan Leafs out there, but how far do they travel? Plus, they do have their own charging terminals remember.

Software Updates

Tech-savvy individuals are aware that these cars rely on software for them to run efficiently as the driver desires. They also know how long it takes for basic software updates on computers to reach countries like this. Tesla issues out software updates to its electric car owners and despite how gimmicky they always seem to be, who wouldn’t want a first-hand experience to make their car better?

Owning an electric car is one thing that not many people are into even in the West. This is partly because of how silent they are as they have no fuel to burn and also the lack of trust surrounding heavily computerised stuff. Remember we didn’t even get to the insane Kenyan roads. Other than the hurdles, it would be a dream to see a couple on these roads.

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