Imagine not having to drive yourself or sit amongst strangers in a crowded train to commute to work in the future. Or picture yourself not needing to rush out the front door and run to the bus stop. How nice would it be to organise your ride to work as you munch down your favourite cereal at the breakfast table? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to do this in just two taps on your smart phone?
Up to this point all of this is possible, today we have apps on our phones that allow us to book taxis and skip the daily grind of public transport. We can do this simply with two taps on our phone screen or ask our smart speaker to do it for us.
In reality though, when we leave our house or apartment we head to the street and wait for an Uber to pull up. However, how cool would it be, if instead of heading to the street, you take an elevator up, real high up to a sky port? And just like today’s rideshares, you jump in a vehicle with complete strangers. And wouldn’t it be nice if that rideshare was a flying taxi that flies you high above the crowded streets and skipped all the traffic and saves time on that horrible commute?
This sounds like something from a ’90s futuristic sci-fi film where flying cars fill the skies. Yet, when you take a look at the trends in mobility (like going car free) and checkout what the big players are up to, a flying taxi to work is much closer to reality than you may think.
For example, Uber, Lyft and other rideshares already offer the platforms with different models for booking rides, they just need to be adapted to include an air taxi. Actually, Uber Air has already started with Uber Copter, its own air taxi service between Manhattan and JFK heliport using the Uber app to book your flight. And we are already sensitised to sharing vehicles with strangers with these very same platforms.
Furthermore, air taxis will need to be electric to help keep the pollution levels down in cities. Sound familiar right? Electronic vehicles are everywhere today, city street cleaners, police cars, e-bikes and passenger vehicles are all becoming electric. Just take a look in your local park house and you will find some ports for electronic cars.
And yes, air taxis will likely at some point be un-piloted or remotely operated to save on space and weight for your future journeys. Drones are becoming more and more popular and are already in use for logistic solutions, delivering parcels, observing cities and more. Also autonomous cars are already driving about our roads, how long till they make it to the air?
And possibly most important in this is the need to move around faster and commute differently. One of the trends influencing our lives is urbanisation and this is causing congestion in cities. London drivers for example spend 54 hours a year waiting in traffic. In New York this is much higher, where drivers waste up to 92 hours a year sitting in their vehicles in the busy streets.
Still, is all this just a pipe dream? Well, Airbus for example, is investing in their City Airbus project and wants to produce four-seater multicopters that are remotely piloted. Uber are working on Uber Air, aircraft that are a mix of helicopters and fixed wing aircrafts to start their own air taxi service. Bell are working on Nexus project a similar flying taxi concept. In fact, just about every aircraft producer has an air cab project running, with designs and prototypes being built. If you are interested here are some links to projects by different companies:
- ASX
- Lilium
- Velocopter
- Joby Aviation
- Aurora (a boeing company)
These projects are all being designed around what is known as eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft. Which is a fancy way of saying that the taxis will be able to take-off and land amongst buildings and fly short distances on batteries.
And if that doesn’t convince you that flying taxis are closer than you think. Then have a look at the infrastructure, there are also companies working on the sky ports. Uber Air are encouraging different companies to design these ports of the future. At the same time, others such as Skyports is focused purely on the infrastructure of these landing fields.
So back to that bowl of cereal in the morning. And booking an air taxi for your commute to work whilst munching down your breakfast. The signs are pointing the right direction: the trends line up and the need for an alternative mode is there. Most encouraging is the investment of companies into the idea with the air taxi market size predicted to be worth over $800 million in 2021. Displaying real commitment to the cause.
In the meantime, take a look at Uber’s idea of how this might look. I guess it’s just a matter of time till it’s a reality.
Let me know what you think. Will we be traveling to work via the air anytime soon?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuWOUEFB_IQ
Photo by sergio souza from Pexels
