It might seem like a flight of fancy, but a Japanese firm says it is one step closer to making flying cars a reality after testing a drone-like prototype.

The Japanese company Skydrive, which develops urban air mobility solutions, carried out a test flight of its SD-03 electric flying car with a passenger on board. The vehicle, which operates with eight rotors and two propellers arranged at each corner, rose vertically into the air about three meters above the ground and circled a test field for four minutes.