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Toyota Sold All Its Tesla Stock, And Plans To Ignite 2020 Games By Flying Car
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bah, right, and Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda pose with a document signed during a press conference in Tokyo, Friday, March 13, 2015. (Credit: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
It's not unusual to find that Toyota Motor Corp. has been quietly steering for the future, but some of its latest moves seem to have even jaded investors feeling revved up.

For starters, Toyota has seemingly surrendered its entire stake in Tesla Motors Inc., concluding the two companies' more than half-decade relationship. Bloomberg reported yesterday that the Japanese had automaker sold all of its stock in entrepreneur Elon Musk's flagship company in 2016, which amounted to 1.43% of the company as of last July.

A Toyota spokeswoman told Bloomberg that the sale signified the end of the companies' dealings (at least for the present), which kicked off and into high gear in 2010. As Bloomberg reported, Toyota bought into Tesla's eco-driven operation for $50 million that year, and even sold its own disused factory in California to the younger automaker. After some false starts in their collaboration with Tesla to create an electric RAV4, however, the heritage Japanese firm has seemingly chosen to go it alone in the race to fill U.S. driveways with affordable electric vehicles.

Toyota Motors President Akio Toyoda (R) holds the key of a Tesla Roadstar handed to him by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk during the presentation of the car at Tesla Japan's headquarter showroom in Tokyo on November 12, 2010. The two companies announced their 'strategic partnership' in May 2010. (Credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

Toyota also turned heads recently by announcing its involvement with a very special kind of auto startup, as well as some record-breaking goals therein. As Quartz reported, the company has invested close to $386,000, or ¥42.5 million, in a 30-person Japanese startup called Cartivator Resource Management, which is developing a nifty little ride known as SkyDrive.

According to Cartivator and BBC News, the approximately nine-and-a-half-foot vehicle would be able to fly at up to 62 miles per hour while hovering close to 33 feet above the ground, or be driven at 93 miles per hour on top of it. The startup's website explains that they hope to provide people in developing countries with a viable transportation option when lack of infrastructure would otherwise leave them stuck, as well as inhibit economic growth.

Cartivator's SKYDRIVE vehicle would allow drivers to switch to pilot-mode without the need for runways or other infrastructure. Credit: CartivationCartivator's SkyDrive would allow drivers to switch to pilot-mode without the need for runways or other costly infrastructure.



"By 2050 we aim to create a world where anyone can fly in the sky anytime and anywhere," the team writes. "To realize our vision, a compact flying car is necessary with [vertical] takeoff and landing technology, which do not need roads and runways to lift off."

And their first major stop on that journey--if all goes well, and future demos show an upward swing--will be levitating at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and lighting its massive ceremonial torch.

Tsubasa Nakamura, project leader of Cartivator, third from left, watches the flight of the test model of the flying car on a former school ground in Toyota, central Japan, Saturday, June 3, 2017 as another member, fourth from left, operates the remote control. (Credit: AP Photo/Koji Ueda)

Regarding the future of transportation, perhaps Toyota is covering its bases, then, with another trip outside its usual track that has been making waves in the news: its plans for a sleek, luxurious speedboat.