Incredible ‘air taxi’ soars for 50 miles over cities at 70mph to skip traffic inside electric Airbus pod
Date: 2024-10-30
AN electric “air taxi” built by Airbus could let you race across cities in minutes by soaring over traffic.
The 75mph flying pod is called the CityAirbus NextGen – and is “perfectly suited” for shutting passengers over small distances.
You can fit up to four people inside the CityAirbus NextGen[/caption]WHERE WILL IT BE USED?
There's no guarantee where the CityAirbus NextGen will be used – but Airus says it's working on the following partnerships...
Medical services
- Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation in Norway to study aircraft medical configuration and equipmentÂ
- The Estonian Ministry of Health to look to examine a country’s health system
- Rotorcraft operator Hiratagakuen in Japan to study route optimisation
Ecosystem for scheduled flights and eco-tourism
- The Helicopter Service (THC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to enable the safe introduction of an urban air mobility systemÂ
- ITA, Enel and UrbanV to set up an AAM ecosystem in Italy
- Ecocopter to gain insight into AAM services in Latin America
- Avincis to partner on the development of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)Â
- LCI to develop partnership scenarios and business models in three core AAM areas: strategy, commercialisation and financing
It said the aim would be to provide “efficient” air transport between “strategic locations in urban and suburban environments”.
That means you could slash your commute times into the city – rather than being stuck behind the wheel in gridlock.
Sadly there’s no telling when or even if the CityAirBus NextGen will arrive in skies for real.
And Airbus has already admitted that it’s facing some major challenges.
“Firstly, we must ensure the highest possible level of safety,” said Charles Louis, a lead engineer at Airbus.
“Secondly, eVTOLs are going to fly over cities and if we want people to accept them we must reduce sound levels even further, which will require blades with very specific aerodynamic shapes.”
He added that the blades take too long to produce currently – requiring eight hours for curing.
Airbus is due to test a prototype of the CityAirbus NextGen this year.
