What happened: Suzuki, the famous Japanese automaker, has announced a commercial partnership with SkyDrive in the race to develop a flying car. The pair confirmed in a joint statement that they would collaborate to bring an eVTOL (electric vehicle take-off and landing aircraft) to market. Details: Although Suzuki no longer sells cars in the United States (it exited the country in 2012), it remains a significant player on the global stage, particularly in India, where its subsidiary Maruti has a share of more than 50% of a market that exceeded 3 million cars in 2021. The statement was brief but confirmed that the two would “collaborate in areas of business and technology such as R&D, planning of manufacturing and mass production systems, and development of overseas markets with an initial focus on India.” Why it matters: SkyDrive has already made a major impact in the eVTOL arena. It made headlines in 2020 when it became the first company to successfully conduct a manned test flight with its single-seat SD-03 in Aichi, Japan. Although a human pilot was in command, a computer system was in charge of flight stability and safety. The SD-03 had two sets of counter-rotating rotors in the front and two more in the back, each with its own electric motor to protect against failure.