Flying cars could be a reality within the next three years.

Manned test drive of flying car a success

At least according to a Japanese company's recent news release.

The release announced that the company has successfully conducted a test drive of a flying car on Aug. 25, 2020.

In a public demonstration conducted by Sky Drive Inc. at the 10,000-square-metre Toyota Test Field, a pilot manning the car managed to take off and circle the field for roughly four minutes.

The vehicle, named SD-03, is two metres high, four metres wide and four metres long, requiring roughly the space of two parked cars on the ground.

This test drive is Japan's first-ever manned flight of a flying car.

Aim to launch flying car in 2023

Tomohiro Fukuzawa, the company's CEO said in the news release that Sky Drive is aiming take their "social experiment" to launch the flying car in 2023.

"We are extremely excited to have achieved Japan’s first-ever manned flight of a flying car in the two years since we founded SkyDrive in 2018 with the goal of commercialising such aircraft," he wrote.

"We want to realise a society where flying cars are an accessible and convenient means of transportation in the skies and people are able to experience a safe, secure, and comfortable new way of life."

The company's CTO added that they will sought to acquire the necessary type certifications and further develop their technologies, so that safe and secure flying car operations can be carried out in 2023.

Previously, Malaysia's Minister of Entrepreneur Development said that the country was expecting to launch its "flying car" prototype by end-2019.

He told Malaysian parliament in November 2019 that he will be getting a "private viewing" of the prototype vehicle, according to The Star.

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Top image via Sky Drive Inc.