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Air Taxi : The Transports of the Future


Since centuries we have seen ground vehicles become our primary transports. We take on micro-mobility solutions and shared-mobility solutions to move from one place to another. But with advent in technologies we might soon see shared-aviation solution slowly becoming our primary basis of transportation. Air-Taxis or Flying-taxis have been around for a decade but still they are not capable of becoming our primary medium of transportation but we might start seeing them in the next upcoming decade.

The Air-Taxis or Flying-Taxis  

Several industrialists around the world have coined the term of Air-taxis for quite a long time. Every other businessman out there has stressed on the importance of time and how they usually waste it in commuting. Passengers on an average spend over 25 minutes on commuting daily in single route in America. As experts say, if we are able to successfully achieve aviation solutions in urban areas we can reduce commuting to a large extent. According to Morgan Stanley research the autonomous urban aircraft market can reach $1.5 trillion dollars by 2040. This research shows why investors are investing large sums of money in this industry.

Nevertheless, air taxis would have plenty of benefits. With every year the number of vehicles on the road increases because of increase in population. City planners work out solution to reduce traffic stress by increasing road width or adding alternative routes to reduce traffic. But experts are saying that this solution would not work in the long run as vehicles will keep on increasing but it will be impossible to increase road width or add more alternative routes. This solution will keep forming a loop as more vehicles increases in future. So urban air transportation has huge potential and experts are saying that the introduction of air-taxis will definitely reduce traffic. As a result commuting will decrease and vehicles on road would also reduce.
    As battery operated vehicles have not yet taken over the car or bike industry so fuel operated vehicles are still in large use which is a huge reason of air pollution and global warming. Introduction of air transports will certainly decrease air pollution, as air-taxis will be eVTOL (Electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing) vehicles. 
    Transportation is also a root cause for noise-pollution in urban areas. With cars hoking simultaneously in jams increase noise pollution. Air-taxis would reduce these noise issues as they will have 100 times lesser noise as compared to traditional helicopters, which would be a great fit for urban dwellers. And there would be less vehicles on ground consequently reducing the need of honking ;)


How would these Air Taxis be operated?

Manufactures say that there will be three kinds of Air-Taxis:
  • There would be wingless 'multi-copters' which would use rotors for vertical take-off and landing and these would be great for short distance journeys.
  • There would be 'Lift and cruise' eVTOLs which would use rotors for takeoff, landing and hovering and wings for efficient cruising.
  • There would be complex 'Vectored Thrust' systems that would have wings and propellers and would be able to swivel their trust generators.
These vehicles would obviously cannot takeoff or land anywhere. So the companies would make certain destinations where you would find such vehicles. When you will book a air-taxi, a ground vehicle would transport you to the nearest fetch point, from there you would take these vehicles and then you will be transported to your desired destination's nearest helipad and again a ground vehicle would receive you take you to your destination.
    Companies have also claimed to make these vehicles autonomous with time. At first they will have pilots but slowly they will use AI and Machine Learning to drive these vehicles without pilots.
    Air-Taxis would cruise at 180 mph with altitudes ranging from 1,000 ft to 2,000 ft. NASA, says they can also operate at 5,000 ft as well. 

How much will you have to pay for your air journey?

Manufacturers like Uber says it will keep its prices at $200 to $225 for flights from Manhattan to JFK Airport, whereas Lillium claims to deliver this ride at much less than $70, which is 35% less than the money charged by Uber. Volocopter has started selling out tickets to customers for their initial commercial flights beginning from 2023 with charges starting from 300 Euros. These prices are quite high for a normal passenger and maximum customers would decide to take a road transport instead which would take a little longer but with very less amount of money as compared to air-taxis. So, companies suggest that these transports would not be affordable by maximum people at first but with repeated advancements they would be able to offer these in a very cheap price. So, passengers with less budget won't expect a cheaper ride until 2035 !!


The demerits associated with flying taxis 

Companies are trying their best to keep customer safety as their primary concern. With air taxis not only the passenger's safety but also the safety of urban people should be kept in mind. If an air-taxi looses control or starts malfunctioning it can crash in nearby houses, hotels, offices,  buildings, bridges, railway lines and a lot of things. So, safety concerns should be kept as primary objective. More over with air accidents quite often people are already scared of their safety, this would reduce passengers and so their revenue. The companies have to look after these issues and build customer trust to keep their industry surviving. 
    As these vehicles would be autonomous meaning they will be controlled by the computer, so the risk of getting hacked is also a huge concern. Terrorists are always on look out for such option and if these securities are not kept high enough then we can see quite a lot of chaos.

Companies on the move

  • Ehang Single person Air-Taxi
    Ehang, a Korean drone manufacturing company which produces various kind of
    drones are now focusing on making single person eVTOLs which they have already done test flights with permission from Korean Government.






  • Volocity
    Volocopter, a German based startup is creating such vehicles since a decade and they are trying to keep customer safety as their primary concern. They have made Volocity, a 18 rotor multi-copter which is extremely quite. These 18 rotors are for extra safety as if one, two or five rotors malfunction the others will safely take the passenger to its destination. Japan Airlnes, Intel, Daimler and Geely have heavily invested on Volocopter. The company has raised over 100 Million Euros. The company has logged over 1000 test flights and aims to launch their fully autonomous commercial flights in the upcoming 5 to 10 years.


  • Joby Aviation Air-Taxi
    Toyota has invested on Joby Aviation, a Sillicon Valley based startup that is building an all electric piloted eVTOL air taxi. The startup has raised $590 Million from toyota, which will help the company in starting air-taxi services by 2023. Joby Aviation is also building a prototype which would eventually reach a cost of ground transportation service and will help millions of people for transporting from one place to another.


  • Uber Elevate
    South Korean Car maker Hyundai and Uber has developed Uber Elevate aerial ride-hailing service. The electrically powered PAV (Personal Air Vehicle) will be able to carry upto 4 persons on trips of 60 miles at speeds reaching upto 180 mph and over altitudes upto 2,000 ft. They have already showed off their eVTOL at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.     Boeing is also working with Uber in Uber Elevate program


  • Lillium Jet
    Lillium has created a lillium jet which is a 7 seater (6 passengers and 1 pilot) eVTOL which utilizes the vectored thrust arcitecture. 




So, Lets Take off

Several companies are manufacturing Air-Taxis as there is a huge potential for the exponential growth of this industry. We still don't know until which year we would be able to see these flights in operation and in our neighbourhoods. But we will surely see these mediums of transportation be one of our daily basis of commuting. Until then lets wait and watch.
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