It appears that 2026 will be the year of the flying taxi.
Both the Brazilian aerospace company Embracer as well as the U.K.-based Vertical Aerospace have announced 2026 as the targeted launch date for their respective air taxis.
At the moment, it seems as though Vertical may be slightly ahead of Embracer in terms of progress, as the British company has reportedly already begun testing their electric air taxis. Embracer, on the other hand, has only announced their intent to begin constructing air taxis.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Paris Olympics are hoping to debut the technology to ferry participants and observers about the city. Currently, the planning team is working on how to address issues such as excessive wind, and whether they’ll need additional landing pads in case of emergencies.
Stateside, the technology could be a bit further off. On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration published a document which addresses a plan to have a “competitive” air taxi service in at least one American market by 2028. Limited operations in the U.S. could begin as early as 2025.
“People always ask me, ‘Why is this happening now?’” Adam Goldstein, chief executive of the American aerospace firm Archer, told The New York Times. “It’s the tech, the regulation, and the money that allowed us to get here.”
Air taxis appear similar to helicopters in that they can handle only a few passengers at a time. However, they are equipped to take off and land vertically, which makes them ideal for use in cities. A great deal of prototypes are fully electric, although some models could potentially run on hydrogen or a combination of batteries and jet fuels.
The idea is to use air taxis to replace costly ride shares or time-consuming train journeys. For example, they can ferry passengers to airports, or from Boston to Cape Cod in just a fraction of the time it would take via other travel methods.
Yet, there are still many obstacles before air taxis can fully take off. Manufacturers must figure out how to navigate increasingly dwindling air space on top of finding and training qualified pilots, who are scarce at the moment. Not to mention, their presence is guaranteed to encounter resistance at local and state levels from both residents and officials who either deem them unsafe or don’t want the racket.
Michael Huerta, a former administrator with the F.A.A., believes that consumers will ultimately embrace the product. If it’s priced reasonably, that is.
We’re one year out from launching a new form of urban mobility, offering all-electric #VoloCity air taxi services in Europe, followed by other megacities worldwide. pic.twitter.com/v669InMe44
— Volocopter (@volocopter) June 16, 2023
“Over time, it will get larger public acceptance, but critical to that is going to be cost,” Huerta told the Times. “If you see this only as a service for very wealthy people, and you’re dealing with the impacts of it, you might be less accepting.”
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/qDJGzBo
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