[‘Flying car’ LIFT Hexa during flight demonstration]
Jace McCown (interview): “We are very used to moving two dimensionally as people. But the ability to move and spin is very dynamic. It gives you a great sense of control.”
[Hexa mid-flight]
Jace McCown (interview): “Right now it is for entertainment and we are waiting for regulations to change to allow us to take it in to do transportation and things like that.”
[Hexa mid-flight]
[Spectators watching test flight]
[Spectators filming]
Jason Pritchard (interview): “A lot of people are thinking, we’re kind of in this bit of space race, you know, who’s going to be the first? Who is going to be the first city, or first region to do it?”
[Hexa mid-flight]
Jason Pritchard (interview): “I think 2026, 2025, as I said, is that end goal that we want to see and we can have the type certification. But a lot of people are also saying, probably wouldn’t see that real operational side of things maybe until the end of this decade, start of the 2030s.”
[Photo op with members of LIFT crew together with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike]
Jason Pritchard (interview): “From what I understand, early initial studies suggest that the Asia Pacific region itself could account for more than half of all operated eVtol aircraft, over 40% of global revenue within the market by the middle of the century. So this is a report conducted by Rolls-Royce and Roland Berger — 82 and half thousand AAM aircraft (Advanced Air Mobility) could be in operation in the APAC region by 2050. And that’s generating an estimated $36.9 billion of service revenue. So that in itself shows you just how big this market is.”
[Hexa mid-flight]
Jason Pritchard (interview): “This market at the moment is already in the billion of dollars, so, and this is when we’ve not even seen an aircraft actually commercially type -certified and flying. Yes, we’re having all the flight tests at the moment, which is absolutely crucial. But in terms of the middle of the century, we could be looking at a multi-billion dollar market.”
[Hexa landing]
[‘SusHi tech,’ Sustainable High Tech City Tokyo, exhibition at Ariake Arena]
[Robot helping to stock drinks on shelves at mock convenience store]
[Automated trolley with plant]
[Pet robots, with self-moving sofa in motion in the background]
Akira Kikuchi (interview): “This is called the ‘live area’ and the theme is the year 2050. Three key concepts are automation, sustainability and personalization. In terms of automation, you just have to take a look – there is a self-moving sofa, these pet robots…”
[Man lifting pet robot]
Akira Kikuchi (interview): “We think this would become a daily scene. We see some of this tech already but we hope that this would become the norm. We think this tech will be part of every household in the future.”
[Skydrive ‘flying car’ on display]
[Raptor’ mobility vehicles developed by start-up Roidiz Tech]
[Driverless vehicle]
[Honda’s driverless taxi]
Ryohei Iwaki (interview): “We are facing the problem of a shortage of drivers, and looking into how to maintain and keep our transport system and also the environment — this is an electric vehicle – I believe we can tackle these big challenges through automated driving.”
[Robot in action]
[SusHi Tech exhibition area]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.