/ FLYING TAXIS: UPDATE
FLYING-TAXI STARTUP LILIUM REVEALS DESIGN FOR URBAN VERTIPORTS
German aerial-taxi company Lilium has unveiled its design guidelines for mod- ular vertiports that could be placed on top of office blocks, car parks or shop- ping centres. Lilium, which has developed a five- seater jet-powered electric air taxi, cre- ated the design guidelines as part of its plan to launch an all-electric air taxi service in multiple cities around the world by 2025. The modular and prefabricated struc-
Lilium has designed an urban vertiport that could be placed on top of offices or car parks
tures were designed as a blueprint for developers that want to incorporate
a vertiport into up- coming projects or existing buildings. “We have no plans
CALIFORNIA GRANTS DRIVERLESS PERMIT TO THIRD ROBO-TAXI COMPANY
AutoX has become the latest company to be granted a Driverless Permit by the California Dep- artment of Motor Vehicles which will allow the company to test its auto- nomous technology on San Jose’s public roads. The permit for this important next phase of autonom- ous driving testing not only allows there to be no safety driver present but also allows for test- ing with passengers. AutoX, founded in 2016, has already carried out auto- nomous vehicle road tests and pilot projects in 13 cities around the world. It has also launched its xTaxi pilot pro- grammes in Silicon
Valley as well as in Shanghai, and Shen- zhen, two of China’s largest mega-cities. The company stat- ed: “The extremely diverse data and experience gleaned from these experi- ences, especially in challenging urban centres in China, has given the company valuable advan- tages in perfecting its technology faster in global expan- sion.” AutoX’s next testing
AUGUST 2020
phase will begin by conducting tests on surface roads in San Jose with a speed limit of up to 45 mph in the area around PayPal’s HQ. Only two other companies have received a permit from the Californian DMV for driverless testing in addition to AutoX: Californi- an robotics com- pany Nuro, Inc., and autonomous driving technology compa- ny Waymo LLC.
to sell the design to developers,” ex- plained head of architecture at Lili- um Riko Sibbe. “Instead, we see developers and partners using our design guidelines as a blueprint for developing verti- ports specific to their contextual set- ting,” he told Dezeen. “We intend to begin and complete con- struction of verti- ports ahead of our commercial launch in 2025, so it won’t be too long from now!” Lilium aimed to design a simple, functional vertiport that only incorporat- ed the elements vital for running its future aerial taxi service. The structure would be built from a series of prefabri- cated modules so that the scale of the vertiport can be adapted to its site and demand for the taxi services. Within cities, they could be built on top of office blocks or car parks.
The vertiport would consist of a take-off area, parking spots and a terminal building
“The lean and mod- ular design allows us to tailor verti- ports according to its specific location quickly and afford- ably without sacri- ficing design,” said Sibbe. “Within cities, this might mean placing a vertiport at an existing transport terminal, next to a shopping centre or on top of a busy car park. In other, less built-up locations vertiports might be placed at ground level, next to a busi- ness park or housing develop- ment.” Each vertiport will include three major elements: a take-off area, which will be based on current heliport regulations; parking bays where passengers will embark the taxis and the vehicles will be charged; and the terminal building. The number of parking bays and take areas would be determined by demand and avail- ability of space. “Vertiports can be
scaled up or down based on a number of factors, including passenger demand and available space. “Lilium vertiports will be optimised for regulatory com- pliance and safe and reliable opera- tion, just like any airport.” said Sibbe. “But unlike airports which are also home to retail hos- pitality and duty- free shops, our ter- minals are focused on reducing pro- cessing and waiting to a minimum in order to deliver a seamless and fric- tionless experience for passengers,” he added. Lilium is not the only company aim- ing to develop a network of sky taxis. Last year Uber revealed eight de- sign concepts for its “skyports” ahead of the commercial launch of Uber Air – its app-based flying taxi service – in 2023. Drones and flying vehicles are increas- ingly being inte- grated into cities.
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