Honda Says It's Working On Small Rockets, Electric Aircraft And Robots For The Moon
Honda builds a surprisingly diverse selection of products that includes cars, motorcycles, generators, lawn mowers and planes. It will branch out into even more sectors over the coming years by adding robots, small rockets, and a second plane.
The expansion is part of Honda's 2030 Vision of serving people worldwide with what it calls "the joy of expanding their life's potential" — even if that means putting down the snowblower (built by Honda, of course) and taking a quick jaunt to outer space. The firm explained that it wants to expand the potential of mobility in the third dimension before turning its attention to the fourth dimension, which we're told defies the constraints of time and space, and ultimately head into space.
Honda, which has made the HondaJet for years, will initially develop an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that won't be as electric as its name suggests. Shown in the gallery above, it will be propelled by a hybrid powertrain built around a gas turbine, and it will have enough range to carry passengers from one city to the next. On paper, it sounds a lot like the flying taxis that several other carmakers are hoping to pelt into the sky at some point in the future. Like many of its rivals, Honda plans to create an ecosystem in which its aircraft can operate while connecting it to some of its land-bound products.
Profitably building and operating an eVTOL makes autonomous driving look easy; the technology isn't ready, the regulations are murky, and the infrastructure is nearly non-existent beyond helipads and airports. And yet, Honda's entry into this much-hyped segment is more credible than most. It operates a successful plane-building division that makes the HondaJet, which was recently updated with more range.