Honda has vowed to spend $45 billion on research and development over the next six years. What for you may ask?

A small dream of the future,  known as electrical vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), i.e. flying cars.

Additionally, the automaking giant will also be distributing parts of this large budget towards developing rockets and robots.

However, Honda did not specify if it plans on pursuing those projects as commercial businesses, given that it sees these three departments as an extension of its essential business of manufacturing automobiles. Most importantly, the company wants to see if it could produce working prototypes before jumping to the next phase.

Marcos Frommer, head of corporate communications for Honda, explained that the company is “pursuing these new areas as an expansion of our core business as a mobility company.”

Interestingly, Honda said it is viewing the eVTOL aircraft could become part of urban taxi service by building a hybrid solution that would accommodate the wide range required by the customers: Instead of building pure battery-electric aircraft - which would have a maximum range of tens of kilometers -, they intend to use gas turbines to supplement their electric motor. This would allow the vehicle to achieve a range of 400 km, thus enabling more commercially viable trips.

Whether or not Honda will pursue a commercial air taxi service before 2025 remains to be seen, as it aims of obtaining regulatory certification in order to launch a new service by 2030.

Given Honda’s pioneering track record in the field of robotics, having created Asimo, one of the first robots to walk on two legs. 

With the recent shift in the auto industry and the phasing out of gas-powered vehicles in favor of electric ones, internal combustion engine vehicles will not be around for much longer. In fact, Honda has vowed to stop selling similar vehicles by 2040.

Honda’s ambitious project is costly and largely risky, yet it could be the next step to redefine the future.