Eighteen propeller single-seat drone, perfect against traffic jams

For the first time, a hovering vehicle called Hexa took to the skies in Tokyo on Friday at the SusHi Tech Tokyo startup event. Hexa soared 10 metres in the Tokyo Big Sight convention centre parking lot in front of 500 spectators.

Tokyo officials said that flying vehicles could become part of the next generation of transport, providing an effective solution for managing traffic congestion and delivering aid to disaster-stricken areas.

Manufactured by Lift Aircraft Inc. of the US, the Hexa is 4.5 metres wide, 2.6 metres high and weighs just 196 kilograms, with 18 propellers mounted on top of its single-seat cabin. Perhaps the biggest problem with the vehicle is its price, as it costs nearly half a million dollars.

Tokyo Governor Koike Juriko said at the Hexa launch that he wanted as many people as possible to experience the high-tech development and was looking forward to the “flying car” becoming part of transport. The company has designed the Hexa to automatically start landing when the batteries (each rotor has a separate pack) start to run out of juice.

The drone can operate stably with up to 6 rotors, has an emergency parachute that deploys to lower the drone to the ground, and its feet are designed to land on water.