Japan, Aug. 5 -- Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. on Monday showed a "flying car," a large drone-like machine with four propellers that hovered steadily for about a minute.

The test flight reaching 3 meters (10 feet) high was held in a gigantic cage, as a safety precaution, at an NEC facility in a Tokyo suburb. The preparations such as the repeated checks on the machine and warnings to reporters to wear helmets took up more time than the two brief demonstrations.

The Japanese government is behind flying cars, with the goal of having people zipping around in them by the 2030s.

Among the government-backed endeavors is a huge test course for flying cars that's built in an area devastated by the 2011 tsunami, quake and nuclear disaster...