APAC UAM Report YE2021

INTERVIEW: SKYDRIVE
different now to what they were three years ago, and since we
performed the first manned flight in 2020, more and more people
are thinking about investing in us.
How did the decision to also work on cargo
drones come about?
We started out by thinking about manned vehicles. Before making
them, you have to make prototypes. We realized that you can carry
many things by making the scale models of the flying car, and that
was the beginning of the cargo drones for us.
The difficulty of certification is mainly due to the weight of
the drone and also whether it is manned or unmanned. As we
are making a drone that is less heavy than a flying car, the
certification is much easier than with a flying car, so we can start
this business as well.
Do you think that Tokyo will be one of the first
cities in the world to allow manned and later
unmanned Urban Air Mobility flights?
When we get type certification, we can fly not only in our own area,
but in other area’s as well. But thinking about the people that live in
Tokyo, it might be difficult at first, especially for those living in the
center of Tokyo. So in those cases I think that riverside, or seaside
might be the best locations to start up flights first, as well as urban
areas in Southeast Asia or other countries, and after that maybe
Osaka, Tokyo or other Megacities in Japan. It might be OK to fly over
the level of cars because the safety level will be the same as with
helicopters or airplanes.
The uniqueness of our cargo drone is that we can carry up to 30kg
at once, so it is one of the biggest drones in the world for weight
loads. Our technology is built to carry big and heavy loads safely and
stably. When we are flying our cargo drones everywhere around the
world, the information on weather, and flight circumstances is linked
to a manned station as well. So I thought it would be very good to
start working on a cargo drone.
46 |YE 2021 ASIA-PACIFIC UAM REPORT