Automotive

The decades-old dream of zipping around in the sky as simply as driving on highways may be becoming less illusory. Japan’s SkyDrive Inc., among the myriads of “flying car” projects around the world, has carried out a successful though modest test flight with one person aboard.

Honda Motor will roll out in October its first mass-produced electric vehicle in Japan, the Honda e, the company said on Thursday.

Japanese fiber maker Omikenshi has developed a material used in run-flat tires that can be produced at roughly half the cost and with half the carbon emissions as the typical alternative.

A startup founded at the University of Tokyo has moved a step closer to developing flying cars by teaming with an aircraft component maker.

The startup, which is aiming to commercialize a single-passenger vehicle that flies with propellers, has formed a capital and business partnership with Yoshimasu Seisakusho, a Tokyo-based producer of aircraft engine parts.

Yoshimasu will invest 50 million yen ($470,000) into teTra and help the startup build titanium and aluminum components that need to withstand high temperatures.

Panasonic will boost production capacity of batteries for Tesla next year in an investment expected to exceed $100 million, Nikkei learned on Wednesday.

From horse-drawn carriages to the invention of cars, ships and air balloons, history shows that the change in human mobility happens only around once in a century.

And about 100 years after the start of mass production of Ford Motor Co.’s Model T, the human race is about to witness another mobility revolution, according to a former Toyota Motor Corp. engineer who now heads a startup that is betting on launching a commercial flying taxi service in 2023.

Sony showed off its automated electric concept car in Japan for the first time Monday, ahead of the planned start of testing by fiscal year-end on public roads at home as well as in the U.S. and Europe.

As the world shifts to more environmentally friendly ways to power cars and trucks, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles have grabbed much of the spotlight. But perhaps another type of fuel should be added to that list as a green alternative to gasoline: e-fuel.

Murata Manufacturing is leveraging its know-how from producing electronics parts to shrink automotive components, seeing an opportunity presented with vehicle electrification.

Nissan Motor has unveiled its first new electric car in a decade, part of an overhaul of its lineup and strategy that the financially stretched Japanese automaker hopes will help it regain its luster after steep losses.