Japanese startup SkyDrive, for example, recently teamed up with Toyota to conduct a test flight of its all-electric air taxi, said to be the world’s smallest electric vehicle that can take off and land from a vertical position. Other companies have partnered with existing car manufacturers to create models they plan to develop for eventual commercial use. “Everyone should have the option to walk, be driven, cycle, or fly.” “We don’t want this to be a toy for the wealthy, but part of a well-integrated journey for anyone in an urban area,” he says. But eventually, says Nestmann, the company’s goal is to make the cost competitive with, say, an Uber Black.
These first flights will cost €300 ($350/£270) per ticket. VoloCity’s first commercial flights are scheduled to take place in 2022. That will mean a higher cost per ride at first, but Volocopter hopes to build consumer confidence before transitioning to a full-autonomy model: an electric, wingless craft powered by nine batteries, which will transport passengers throughout a planned network of vertiports – airports for planes that take off and land vertically – across major cities. Initially, the VoloCity will only have room for a single passenger. “It’s like an Uber Black or any other premium service,” says Fabien Nestmann, vice president of public affairs at Volocopter.
Germany-based Volocopter, for instance, has marketed its VoloCity craft as the first commercially licensed electrically powered air taxi, a vehicle which will eventually run without a pilot. Meanwhile, aviation authorities hash out the policies and safety standards that will govern this new realm of transport. Venture capitalists, auto and aviation corporations (even rideshare company Uber, with its ambitious Uber Elevate) are staking claims on the burgeoning industry, which may be worth as much as $1.5tn (£1.1tn) by 2040. Dozens of start-up companies are competing to develop commercial jetpacks, flying motorbikes and personal air taxis.
Not only is China a major market for Volkswagen vehicles, it’s also the single largest auto market on the planet.
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Instead, lots of excellent free publicity for the car manufacturer. Who is next to jump on the bandwagon, Jaguar or Bentley, perhaps?Ĭertainly, developing a flying car for the Chinese market is a smart business move. When Aston Martin revealed in July, 2018 it was forming a partnership with UK Cranfield Aerospace to create a flying car and offered futuristic-looking illustrations to support it, the media jumped on the story like flies on… Since then, no further news has emerged, zilch, diddly-squat. The problem being it is easy to speculate. Volkswagen is particularly interested in Chinese technology and potential business partnerships, as the country now makes up a major share of world VW sales. The executives indicated the company “is exploring possible partnerships and vehicle concepts for a drone that could be licenced as urban aerial transit”. In a post on LinkedIn recently, CEO Herbert Diess and Stephan Woellenstein, the head of VW’s China operations, discussed how “vertical mobility” could be part of its future - that is, “flying cars.” Still shrouded under the global scandal of its “rigging of diesel systems”, a VW all-electric flying car would be an excellent distraction and tongues are wagging that a collaboration with a Chinese partner may be on the cards. After Aston Martin, Porsche, Cadillac and Roll-Royce, the latest car manufacturer to be “speculated over” for designing a flying car is Volkswagon, reports.
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