Imagine hurrying to the airport and instead of suffering for hours in a traffic jam, you simply board an electric rotorcraft that will take you to your destination in five minutes. Plus, you shouldn’t pay more for the whole thing than for a taxi. You don’t even have to go so far into the future to make it happen, as Airbus Helicopters has also made a working demonstration of this “flying electric taxi” from CityAirbus, and its regulation is already being negotiated with official bodies. The company hopes that after 2025, the first CityAirbus will be able to take to the skies en masse, bringing a serious blood refresh in urban transport.
Flight for the price of a taxi.
The CityAirbus is a four-seater, electric, eight-rotor aircraft that takes off and down vertically. It was invented on a pre-determined route capable of carrying four passengers, primarily for shorter distances, and would travel within a city. The vehicle is self-driving, but in the test phase there will still be a person on board who can intervene if necessary. The development is a joint project of Airbus Helicopters and Siemens. Its range, on the other hand, will be much shorter and its application will be much less versatile than that of a helicopter.
As the vehicle is still under development, the final version of the demonstration piece will also be safer and more comfortable than Airbus plans. Another self-propelled rotor, called Vahana, is also being tested by Airbus, and the lessons learned from this project will be incorporated into CityAirbus.
You can already fly in the next decade.
The Airbus Helicopters project is not primarily struggling with technical barriers, but with the lack of regulation in most cities for passenger traffic using self-propelled aircraft. The company believes that this is not very likely to happen before 2025, but negotiations on this are already underway. it will travel on pre-designated trajectories, such as from the city center to the airport. Swivels are likely to spread in congested Latin American and Asian cities in the first place. Operators can be transport companies, public transport organizations and even Airbus itself.
The CityAirbus will also be designed to make the vehicle no more expensive than a ground taxi. Airbus Helicopters are not intended to replace buses with aircraft, for example, but are aimed at anyone who would board a normal taxi.
The future in the air?
In addition to CityAirbus and Vahana, mentioned above, Airbus is also working Pop.Up Nexten: on a modular vehicle capable of both ground and flight, to be built with Audi,on SkyWays, a drone-based parcel delivery project
and Voomon, a community, helicopter-sharing app (roughly like the Oscar, only with rotary wings) – already live in Mexico City.
In addition to Airbus, many other companies are experimenting with next-generation cargo and passenger drones, electric helicopters, just to name a few:
Natilus, which would, for example, build a specially designed rigid-wing aircraft capable of carrying only cargo, of which a dozen could be piloted remotely by a pilot, Volans would replace the battery-based operation of drones with new types of gears, so they would be able to carry much higher loads, much longer distances.
And Matternet would simply specialize in transporting devices that are of high value or urgent to transport, such as medical aids, and this can be done more or less with existing technologies.
Recent article
Drones News & Articles
Maple fruit inspired a drone that spins on its own axis
Electric airplane News & Articles
The Hungarian solar-powered airplane plan has hit the world press
Electric airplane News & Articles
NASA’s first electric aircraft to take off soon
Drones News & Articles
An Australian drone can plant 40,000 trees in a day
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Airbus and ITA Airways jointly develop Italian urban air transport
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Airbus and ITA Airways jointly develop Italian urban air transport
Air taxi News & Articles
The first air taxi airport opens in Britain
Electric airplane News & Articles
Slovenian Pipistrel becomes part of Textron’s electric aviation business
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Another aircraft: the air yacht
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Testing Volocopter’s eVTOL
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
A solar-powered device on Mars could make rocket fuel from waste water
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Suzuki promises to launch flying taxis by 2025
Drones News & Articles
Amazon drone delivery is far from taking off
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
CycloTech and Yamato reveal innovative cargo eVTOLconcept with CycloRotors
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Receives Pre-Order for 100 Units of EH216 AAVs from Indonesian Aviation Company Prestige Aviation
Drones News & Articles
A Hungarian company is developing an agricultural drone with a French partner
Additional aircraft News & Articles
A futuristic, electric rival to the rocket backpack is already in operation
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
FedEx puts drones to work
Additional aircraft News & Articles
British paramedics to start testing rocket backpack rescue in the summer
Air taxi News & Articles
Air Greenland acquires VX4 Air Greenlands from
Air taxi News & Articles
Japanese flying taxis now almost have a timetable
Flying Cars News & Articles
French startup to launch hydrogen-powered flying race car
Drones News & Articles
The silent spy drone designed for the Pentagon is ready
Flying Cars News & Articles
Bruno Senna joins Airspeeder as pilot and ambassador
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Receives Pre-order for 60 Units of Passenger-grade AAVs from AEROTREE, Malaysia’s Leading Aviation Company, under Strategic Partnership
Additional aircraft News & Articles
NASA may launch inflatable stingray drones to Venus
Drones News & Articles
The Gambit combat drone opens a new era in air warfare
Drones News & Articles
Hydraulic drone that will have a much longer range than its electric counterpart
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Swiss buys solar-powered sustainable kerosene
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
Minor accident at Joby Aviation
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Airbus tests hydrogen propulsion on its A380 prototype
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
CAAC Formally Adopts Special Conditions for EH216-S AAV Type Certification
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
A Chinese company has shown how their eVTOL can cope with the most critical part of flying
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
World’s first electric air taxis to be launched in Japan
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Hungarian engineers develop unique parallel hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion system
Air taxi News & Articles
Startup Natilus is set to revolutionise air freight transport
Drones News & Articles
Drones go on duty at the giant Singapore seaport
News & Articles Points of interest
Hydrogen-powered, hypersonic aircraft
Flying Cars News & Articles
Why don’t we use flying cars ?
Additional aircraft News & Articles
MIT’s miniature robots fly using artificial muscles
More articles you may be interested in...
Electric airplane News & Articles
United Airlines purchases two hundred electric passenger aircraft
Drones News & Articles
Birds can teach the gliding drones of the future
Flying Cars News & Articles
New Hampshire is the first state to authorize flying cars
Drones News & Articles
Canada ordered military drones
Flying Cars News & Articles
Renault 4 made into a flying car
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
Nuclear waste battery to last hundreds of years
Drones News & Articles
Drones go on duty at the giant Singapore seaport
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
World’s first electric air taxis to be launched in Japan
Air taxi News & Articles
Electric aircraft will be the center of Florida
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Toyota would conquer the skies
Electric airplane News & Articles
The electric luxury aircraft is ready
Additional aircraft News & Articles
Introducing the ZEVA Aero saucer-shaped aircraft
Drones News & Articles
The Russian Air Force has unveiled the Hunter drone
Electric airplane News & Articles
Airbus electric aircraft could be in service in 2035
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang 216 AAV Conducted Trial Flights in Japan
EVTOL & VTOL News & Articles
EHang Announces Commencement of Operations in Yunfu Production Facility, and to Host Investor Day on August 18, 2021
Flying Cars News & Articles
Flying car available
Flying Cars News & Articles
Flying cars could be on the road from 2024
Flying Cars News & Articles
Flying car before production
Drones News & Articles
Heavy duty transport drones
Drones News & Articles
The United Arab Emirates would make artificial rain with drones
Drones News & Articles
Drone refuelled the aircraft
Flying Cars News & Articles
First electric racing car to fly
Flying Cars News & Articles
Cyclocar, the Russian military passenger aircraft
Drones News & Articles
A Hungarian company has developed a drone-mounted transport box
Additional aircraft News & Articles
The jetpack could be best used in the construction industry
News & Articles Propulsion-Fuel
A solar-powered device on Mars could make rocket fuel from waste water
Drones News & Articles
Drones help map their invasive plant species
Flying Cars News & Articles
Swedish model: full production capacity of the first commercially available flying car by 2022
Drones News & Articles
Mysterious flying vehicles chased the destroyers of the USA