flyingtaxi
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Boeing's self-flying taxi completes its first flight
Multiple companies have outlined plans for flying taxis, but Boeing just took an important step toward making them a practical reality. The aircraft maker has completed the first test flight of its autonomous electric VTOL aircraft, verifying that the machine can take off, hover and land. It's a modest start, to put it mildly -- the taxi has yet to fly forward, let alone transition from vertical to forward flight modes. That still puts it ahead of competitors, though, and it's no mean feat when the aircraft existed as little more than a concept roughly one year ago.
Uber partner reveals air taxi design at CES
Bell, one of Uber's flying taxi partners, revealed the design of its vertical takeoff and landing air taxi at CES, a five-person hybrid-electric powered vehicle with six tilting ducted fans. The company showed off the cabin of its air taxi at CES last year, and this year, it's debuting a scale model of the vehicle now dubbed the Bell Nexus. "As space at the ground level becomes limited, we must solve transportation challenges in the vertical dimension -- and that's where Bell's on-demand mobility vision takes hold," Bell CEO Mitch Snyder said in a statement. "The industry has anticipated the reveal of our air taxi for some time, so Bell is very proud of this moment. We believe the design, taken with our strategic approach to build this infrastructure, will lead to the successful deployment of the Bell Nexus to the world."
Larry Page's air taxi company cuts a deal with Air New Zealand
Remember Google co-founder Larry Page's other "flying car" project that's based in New Zealand? It's called Cora, and is being developed by Zephyr Airworks to provide an autonomous VTOL-capable flying vehicle. Now the local airline Air New Zealand has signed an agreement that "signals the intention to form a long-term relationship" to build the world's first autonomous air taxi service. That's a tall order, considering how many others, like Uber Elevate, are working on similar ideas, but partnering with an airline could assist in lining up the regulatory and community support to get this project going. As far as what the deal actually includes now, the FAQ explains it's "a commitment to jointly explore the development and design of an electric, autonomous air taxi service, using Cora."
Uber is searching for a third city to test its flying taxis
Uber's flying taxi service was supposed to debut in Dallas, Los Angeles and Dubai, but its deal with the emirate fizzled out before tests could even begin. It still wants to trial UberAir outside the country, though, so it launched a search for a third test city in May. Now, the company has announced that it has narrowed down its choices for the third spot to five countries: Australia, Brazil, France, India and Japan. In particular, Uber seems to be considering Sydney or Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro or the state of São Paulo, Paris, Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, and Tokyo.
Japan teams up with Uber, Airbus and 19 others on flying taxi plan
Japan wants to bring flying taxis into the mainstream over the next decade and it's putting together a government-led group in order to do so, Bloomberg reports. The country's trade ministry said to today that the group will bring together at least 21 businesses including Uber, Boeing, Airbus, Japan Airlines and Toyota-backed Cartivator, which will meet next week to discuss plans going forward. For its part, the government will work on ways to regulate these sorts of vehicles. "The Japanese government will provide appropriate support to help realize the concept of flying cars, such as creation of acceptable rules," the ministry said.
Uber partners with UT Austin and US Army Research Labs on flying cabs
Uber has added the University of Texas at Austin to its list of partners as it tries to turn its flying taxis into a reality. The company is also working with the US Army Research Laboratory on a project to develop rotor technology for the vehicles. Uber wants to start testing UberAIR cabs by 2020 and have commercial service in its launch cities of Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Dubai by 2023.
Aston Martin’s Volante Vision is a luxurious flying taxi
Aston Martin is the latest luxury car company to express interest in creating a personal aerial vehicle. Today, the company unveiled its plans for a "flying car," a three-seat aircraft called the Volante Vision Concept. The hypothetical concept craft's design will make its debut at the Farnborough Air Show this month.
Rolls-Royce is the latest to develop a flying taxi
The flying taxis from Airbus and Uber may have some fresh competition, albeit not quite in the way they might have expected. Rolls-Royce has unveiled an EVTOL (Electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) concept that could carry four to five passengers to virtually any large-enough landing spot thanks to wings that can rotate 90 degrees. It wouldn't be purely electric, despite the name (gas turbines would produce the 500kW of power needed for six propellers), but it would be quiet while ferrying people up to 500 miles at a peak speed of 250MPH. Its wing propellers would fold away once at cruise height to avoid irking either passengers or people below.
Germany plans to test Airbus and Audi's flying taxi concept
The Pop.Up Next flying taxi from Airbus and Audi should soon become much more than a well-meaning concept. The German government has signed a letter of intent greenlighting tests for the flying taxi around Audi's home city of Ingolstadt. Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer saw the autonomous, mixed-mode transports bringing a "new dimension of mobility" and creating a "huge opportunity" for companies exploring flying car tech.
Uber is building a flying taxi technology center in Paris
Uber has wildly ambitious plans to send flying taxis soaring over cities, but building them will be orders of magnitude harder than anything it has ever done. As such, the company announced that it will open a Paris lab dedicated to its Elevate program called the Advanced Technologies Center in Paris (ATCP). Uber will spend €20 million ($23.4 million) over five years to develop the AI algorithms, air traffic control and other tech necessary for the service.
Uber loses its flying taxi chief
The Uber division working on flying taxis has just lost its chief: according to The Wall Street Journal and The Information, unit head Jeff Holden has stepped down and left the company. Holden's departure came as a surprise, considering the ride-sharing firm just held a conference to talk about its flying taxi project's development and new aerospace partners earlier this month. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi reportedly revealed the development in an internal memo, telling employees that Holden's old team will be given a new home within the company. A spokesperson also told WSJ that Eric Allison, who used to be with Alphabet-backed flying car firm Zee.Aero, will lead the division going forward.
Uber doubles down on partnership with NASA for flying taxi service
Uber had announced last fall that its flying taxi project Elevate would be getting help with its software from NASA. Naturally, you can't do this with just any deal, and the pair signed a Space Act Agreement to make an air traffic control system to handle its aerial taxi fleet. Both have doubled down on their partnership with a second compact wherein the space agency will take Uber's plans and simulate how they'll work in Texas airspace.
Audi gives Airbus' flying taxi concept a stylish makeover
Did you think Airbus' Pop.Up flying taxi concept was a little drab? So did Audi. It teamed up with Airbus and Italdesign to unveil Pop.Up Next, a reworked version of the two-seat autonomous vehicle concept. The new version is more stylish than the mostly functional original, and borrows more than a few cues from Audi's current design language. However, it should also be more practical -- it's supposed to be "significantly" lighter than the original, which is rather important for a hybrid passenger drone.
Porsche starts work on flying passenger drones
You might have to cross another item off of the list of things you never thought Porsche would do. Automobilwoche has claimed that Porsche is developing passenger drones, and is close to showing off its first design sketch. While there's clearly not much to show at this point, you would have some control over the machine but wouldn't need a pilot's license -- like other in-progress drones, a large chunk of the flight control would be automated.
Airbus' drone taxi takes to the skies for the first time
When Airbus first announced its plans to develop a self-flying taxi, it sounded like a fever dream of a sci-fi fan. Now, the aerospace giant has proven that it wasn't joking: Airbus' Vahana team have successfully flown their autonomous air taxi dubbed "Alpha One" for the first time. Sure, it only reached an altitude of 16 feet and remained in the air for 53 seconds before descending, but it did so while fully self-piloted. The team conducted another test flight the day after, and by the sound of things, that one also went well.
Uber works with NASA to get flying taxis ready by 2020
They say the best revenge is living well, and so in the midst of its ongoing and messy breakup with London, Uber has proven it's doing just fine thank you very much by signing an agreement with NASA to develop software for its proposed flying taxi project, Elevate.
Airbus flying taxi concept on track to make first flight in 2018
It's 2017, and yes, the flying car might be coming -- but you probably won't drive it. European aviation giant Airbus claimed that the company's flying taxi concept is on track to make its first flight by the end of next year. While the first tests will be unmanned, the company plans to have humans pilot the four-person aircraft when it's planned to start flying in cities around 2023, before eventually transitioning to fully autonomous trips.
Dubai tests a passenger drone for its flying taxi service
Dubai was serious when it said it wants to be first in the world to offer a flying taxi service. That's why on Monday, it staged a maiden test flight for one of its potential taxis: a two-seater, 18-rotor unmanned flying vehicle made by German firm Volocopter, which is backed by fellow German company Daimler. The automated vehicle, which lifts and lands vertically like a helicopter, whisked Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed away for a five-minute flight 200 meters above a patch of sand.
DeLorean's next car is a flying one
Paul DeLorean isn't as famous as Larry Page, Airbus or Uber, but he's competing with all three in the race to build a flying car. DeLorean does have a famous name, however, and is the nephew of the John DeLorean, maker of the eponymous sports car made famous by Back to the Future. In a profile at Wired, the youger DeLorean reveals his plans for the DeLorean DR-7, a two-seater VTOL craft for personal transport.
Daimler funds Volocopter's autonomous flying taxi dreams
Volocopter just got a $30 million cash injection, thanks to a few investors, including fellow German firm Daimler. The automaker's contribution can help the company stick to its timeline and its plans to release its first autonomous electric air taxis next year. Volocopter has been working on the creation of a personalized air transport system for years and completed the first manned test flight of its multicopter in 2016.
