‘Flying Car’ Industry Taxis Toward Takeoff - The Daily Upside
A US-based startup, backed by Japan’s Toyota, and a freshly capitalized initiative in China could make flying cars a full reality next year. Sean Craig sean.craig@thedailyupside.com “We wanted flying cars; instead, we got 140 characters,” venture capitalist Peter Thiel, himself an early Facebook investor and thus key financier of the first social media age, quipped in 2013. Since his remark, the character limit for posts on Twitter — rechristened X under Thiel’s fellow PayPal mafia barone Elon Musk — has climbed to 280 (or 25,000 for paid subscribers). As for cars, they’re still not flying. A US-based startup, backed by Japan’s Toyota, and a freshly capitalized initiative in China could change that as soon as next year. “Flying car” is a colloquial term best associated with futures imagined by sci-fi filmmakers. But outside the dystopian cityscapes of Blade Runner or The Fifth Element, here on Earth, they go by a much wonkier industry term: electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL
‘Flying Car’ Industry Taxis Toward Takeoff - The Daily Upside Skip to content Industries | Electric Vehicles ‘Flying Car’ Industry Taxis Toward Takeoff A US-based startup, backed by Japan’s Toyota, and a freshly capitalized initiative in China could make flying cars a full reality next year. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Mail Link July 28, 2025 Photo via Cover Images/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom Sign up for smart news, insights, and analysis on the biggest financial stories of the day. Subscribe Sean Craig sean.craig@thedailyupside.com July 28, 2025 “We wanted flying cars; instead, we got 140 characters,” ve
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