FLYING TAXIS NASA TEST DRIVES ‘AIR TAXI’ THAT CAN SOAR AT 200MPH
NASA has begun real-world testing of long-awaited all-electric flying cars, which could be coming soon to a city near you. The space agency said in a statement: “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”. The testing is part of a long-running campaign to bring flying vehicles to the United States. The American space agency has teamed up with Californian flying car company Joby to begin the trials. Joby’s prototype air taxi has a range of 150 miles and can travel at up to 200mph. It seats four passengers and is fully electric, meaning it has zero carbon emissions. Most importantly, it can take off and land vertically - which means it can land in cities and towns without the
need for a runway. The trials are designed to assess the “how the vehicle moves, how the vehicle sounds, and how the vehicle communicates with controllers”. The NASA team is going to pay partic- ular attention to how much sound
pollution the flying cars generate, presumably in anticipation of the number of noise complaints to local councils in about ten years time. Joby is the first company to conduct test flights with NASA, which says it is trying to build public ‘confidence’ in the safety of flying cars. The test flights are part of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) national campaign, which essentially exists to make flying cars a reality. NASA says it hopes to “fully integrate” flying vehicles into America’s national travel system. The agency says it wants to provide “an efficient and affordable system for passenger and cargo transportation”, as well as “package delivery drones, air taxis, and medical transport vehicles.”
UK START-UP TO BUILD 65 MINI AIRPORTS FOR FLYING TAXI SERVICES
UK start-up Urban-Air Port has partnered with automaker Hyundai to build 65 mini airports worldwide that are designed for a new generation of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger vehicles. German firm Volocopter plans to intro- duce a service in Paris by the time it holds the Olympics in 2024, while air- craft-leasing company Avolon issued a $2bn order in June for 500 eVTOLs – also with a 2024 commercial service launch date in mind. According to Engineering and Technology, Urban-Air Port said that the burgeoning eVTOL sector currently lacks the infrastructure needed to support the vehicles and could be a major block on market growth. Only three per cent of the investment so far this year ($150m) has been targeted towards the physical infrastructure. It aims to establish a global network of urban-air ports with plans to build 200 sites globally in the next five years.
OCTOBER 2021
Investment in the sector has grown substantially this year, with $4.7bn announced thus far for the develop- ment of eVTOL vehicles. Urban-Air Port said it will unveil the world’s first fully operational urban-air port – named Air-One – in Coventry early next year. Ricky Sandhu, Urban-Air Port founder, said: “The sector is soaring and we know that a future with electric flying vehicles and drones in cities is going to be a reality soon.
“But it can’t happen if we don’t have the infrastructure on the ground and in the air to make it happen. Urban- Air Port will change the way we travel forever – unlocking clean urban-air transport for everyone, improving con- nectivity in congested cities, cutting pollution and boosting productivity.”
The start-up has created “modular hubs” that have been designed with compact environments in mind. Both maintenance and charging for eVTOLs are able to take place on-site and the design should enable them to be locat- ed in dense urban areas and remote locations. Minister for aerospace, Paul Scully, said: “The government-backed Urban-Air Port heralds a new, convenient and sustainable way to travel within the UK, improving connectivity between cities. “Making sure that the infrastructure exists for these new modes of transport is key to making zero-emission urban flight an everyday reality.”
87
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
