Japan's SkyDrive Advances Flying Car Medical Transport in Taiwan's Penghu IslandsA · FULL TRANSLATION
- SkyDrive, Taiwan's ITRI, and 7A Drones signed an implementation-preparation agreement on July 15
- The initial route links Magong and the outlying island of Hujing in Penghu, targeting service from 2028
- Taiwan's economy minister attended the signing, signaling flagship-level official backing
Japanese eVTOL maker SkyDrive chose Taiwan's Penghu islands for its flagship overseas deployment. On July 15 in Tokyo, SkyDrive signed an emergency medical transport implementation-preparation agreement with Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute and drone firm 7A Drones, moving the project from concept study into implementation preparation — an initial route between Magong and the outlying island of Hujing, targeting service from 2028.
Three observations: the signing drew Taiwan's economy minister and senior officials, marking flagship-level backing; the use case is shrewd, as winter ferry cancellations create a genuine medical access gap with high public value and simple airspace, an ideal sandbox for certification; and the division of labor is classic Japan-Taiwan complementarity — Japanese airframe expertise, Taiwanese implementation and local coordination. Risks remain real: eVTOL certification, battery density, and rough-weather operations are unsolved everywhere, so the 2028 timeline can slip. Full translated summary below.
SkyDrive (Toyota City, CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa), Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and drone solutions firm 7A Drones signed an agreement on July 15, 2026 on implementation preparation for emergency medical transport using SkyDrive's compact eVTOL. Building on a May 2025 business alliance and a February 2026 LOI for the purchase of ten SD-05 aircraft, the parties defined roles and timelines toward social implementation in the Penghu archipelago, where winter ferry cancellations chronically impair medical access. The signing at The Okura Tokyo was attended by Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin and other senior officials. Targeting service from 2028, the parties will refine the Magong-Hujing route and select additional routes, coordinate with hospitals, EMS providers and health authorities, secure vertiports, define UAS traffic management, communications and charging requirements, and build a public-private consortium spanning central ministries, local governments, and the medical, transport, power and telecom sectors. (Abridged from SkyDrive's press release, July 21, 2026)