It wasn’t an entirely successful stunt. He was stopped by the police and breathalysed, possibly because the contraption has a maximum ground speed of 25mph (although it can do more than 110mph in the air, and has a range of around 645km). The GyroDrive isn’t cheap, either, with prices starting at around £50,000, roughly ten grand more than a new Mercedes E Class cabriolet which, as any petrol-head worth his string- backed driving gloves will know, can take more than one passenger and is capable of rather more than 25mph. However, Mercedes E Class cabriolets cannot yet fly. And the GyroDrive isn’t going to be
flying solo for long. Slovakian company AeroMobil is reportedly about to launch a petrol-driven, two-seater flying car, which is capable of 100mph on the ground and 124mph in the air, needs only 230m of clear road to take off (so not much use on the M25), and can land in 45m.
The vehicle comes with an autopilot and – perhaps disconcertingly – a parachute… just the one, apparently. AeroMobil’s chief executive Jurai
Vaculik boasts: “We don’t even need airports. If something like a flying Uber and flying Lyft will be on the market, I think many users will find this an efficient way to move.” Over in the US, the Transition
is claimed to be the world’s first practical flying car, with two full-scale prototypes already tested and “all of the special legal approvals necessary” in order to take the product to market. The all-electric vehicle, which has vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capability and so doesn’t need a ‘runway’, has been developed by a company called Terrafugia, founded in 2006 by five Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates who say their flying car could be on the market within three years.
share suppliers had increased by 21 per cent over the period. It doesn’t take a mathematical genius
to work out that if 50 per cent of policies permit the use of ride-hailing apps, 50 per cent don’t – at least not yet. There are duty- of-care concerns, mostly centred on Uber, which has come in for all sorts of criticism. There are also questions about the avail- ability and reliability of the management information that service providers can offer, and wider ethical issues around the way drivers are treated. This has opened the door – at home
and abroad – to companies which make a point of meeting travel management requirements. Robert McGinn, commercial director
at Addison Lee, claims his company was the first to launch a car-booking app in the UK, but welcomes new competitors. “A combination of new entrants and tech- nology has made for a customer-focused,
74 BBT July/August 2017
dynamic marketplace – which, when properly regulated for a level playing field, is good for consumers, the market and the economy,” he says, adding: “Addison Lee identified that what corporate travel buyers and their clients want is the convenience of app-based travel booking, integrated into a global business offering.” Perhaps it’s just as well that McGinn is
open to a spot of rivalry. Cabfind claims to have the UK’s most extensive private hire and executive car network, with 2,300 suppliers – with a combined fleet of more than 160,000 vehicles – on its books. Gett, which claims to be ‘number one in
Europe’, covers London and eight other UK cities, has a base in New York, and serves multiple cities in Israel and Russia. German- based Mytaxi, which absorbed the Hailo brand, claims to offer the first taxi app with access to more than 100,000 taxis worldwide. It doesn’t stop there. In Europe, Snap- pcar is challenging Mytaxi. In the US,
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104