Volocopter to launch air taxi infrastructure for cities within ten years

Volocopter has unveiled its vision for an air taxi infrastructure for cities which it claims could integrate into transportation systems and provide mobility for up to 10,000 passengers per day. The company expects the technology to be available within the next ten years. The firm says that the electrically-powered aircraft are emission-free and take off and land vertically to maintain safety. Volocopters are based on drone technology and can carry two people over distances of 27km. For the infrastructu
April 27, 2018 Read time: 1 min

8772 Volocopter has unveiled its vision for an air taxi infrastructure for cities which it claims could integrate into transportation systems and provide mobility for up to 10,000 passengers per day. The company expects the technology to be available within the next ten years.

The firm says that the electrically-powered aircraft are emission-free and take off and land vertically to maintain safety. Volocopters are based on drone technology and can carry two people over distances of 27km.

For the infrastructure, the firm proposes that areas it calls ‘Volo-Hubs’ could allow the air taxis to land and take off every 30 seconds. Once inside, battery packs will be exchanged automatically in a protected area by robots before moving on to the section where passengers embark for take-off. In addition, the hubs could offer space to park all Volocopters in operation.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Q-Free launches web-based lane management
    October 16, 2019
    Q-Free has unveiled LaneAware, a web-based application which it says streamlines the lane management of workzones to reduce workload on agency staff and minimise traffic disruptions. Q-Free America’s senior vice president Morten Andersson says most lane closures are managed via phone calls and Excel spreadsheets which creates a “nightmare for transportation management operations centres and contractors”. “LaneAware solves these issues and provides traffic managers with much greater situational awarene
    Read More
  • The afterlife of spent electric vehicle batteries
    April 20, 2012
    Earlier this year, General Motors signed a definitive agreement with ABB Group to identify joint research and development projects that would reuse Chevrolet Volt battery systems, which will have up to 70 per cent of life remaining after their automotive use is exhausted. Recent research conducted by GM predicts that secondary use of 33 Volt batteries will have enough storage capacity to power up to 50 homes for about four hours during a power cut.
    Read More
  • Reflecting on five years of important ITS progress
    January 7, 2013
    Former head of the ITS Joint Program Office Shelley Row has passed the baton to a new director. Now working as an independent consultant, here she reflects on her five years at the helm of the JPO and what the future may hold for ITS in the US. During a mid-morning in Paris earlier this year, having just landed, I decided to take a trip on the city’s subway (Paris’ underground metro) into the city centre. A family with a small boy – about nine years old – boarded the same train. They were American and we st
    Read More
  • New technology can ‘charge a bus during fifteen-second stop’
    June 3, 2013
    Swiss firm ABB has developed technology that it says can charge a full-sized electric bus during ordinary stops, removing the need for overhead lines in major cities. According to ABB, the bus can be charged with a fifteen-second, 400 kilowatt boost at selected stops, which allows for the vehicle to top off its charge while the passengers are loading or leaving the bus, and a three to four minute charge at the end of the bus line will then fully recharge the batteries.
    Read More

Highlighted Content