Toyota backs adorably tiny flying car that could light the Olympic flame

Toyota is getting in on the flying car craze--but with an Olympic twist.

The Japanese automaker backed a project called Cartivator, which wants to build a tiny flying car to light the Olympic flame for the 2020 Summer Games.

Cartivator is made up of over 30 volunteers, all donating their time to build the Skydrive car, which they hope to prep for a manned flight by the end of 2018.

Toyota's financial contribution to Cartivator is relatively small if you're Toyota: around 40 million yen (a tad over $350,000). But for Cartivator, which has relied on donations and online crowdfunding, it's a huge help towards financing the prototype which they're claiming will be the smallest flying car developed yet.

At 9.5 feet long and a little over 4 feet wide, the Skydrive, per the BBC, would be able to reach speeds around 100km per hour (62 mph) and, per the above video, would seem to fly like a quad-copter drone.

The group has been hammering away at the project for several years and now there's a lofty goal: to fly the prototype at the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and light the Olympic flame.

How they plan to do that, exactly, hasn't really been sorted out yet. Nor is there much more available information about how Toyota's donation may get them closer to this achievement and topping that great arrow-lit flame at the 1992 games.