The concept of an air taxi is not new. We have always seen air taxis in cartoons or sci-fi movies and imagined how cool will it be if these things would actually ever be invented. There have been documented ideas and research on air taxis and very recently, Audi along with Airbus and the federal chancellery in Berlin have signed a letter of intent to start what they are calling the 'Urban Air Mobility Project'. The letter of intent was signed by Bram Schot, interim CEO and Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at Audi AG, Federal Minister of Transport, Germany, Andreas Scheuer, minister of State for Digital Affairs Dorothee Bar, Airbus CTO Grazia Vittadini, Mayor of Ingolstadt Dr. Christian Losel and other representatives of politics and business. The idea of the project is to be a model for air-taxi test operation in the Ingolstadt region of Germany.
(Audi and Airbus along with other government authorities will work on the flying taxi)
"Connected, electric and autonomous cars will make urban traffic more comfortable and cleaner and will save space - that means better quality of life for people in cities. This is where mobility in the third dimension can make a valuable contribution in the future," emphasized Schot. "We welcome the involvement of the city of Ingolstadt and support the development of the region as a test field for air taxis," said Schot. At the Geneva Motor Show in March, Audi, the Audi subsidiary Italdesign and Airbus presented Pop.Up Next, an all-electric, fully automated concept for horizontal and vertical mobility.
(There is no timeline on the testing of the flying taxis)The model itself is called the Pop Up Next concept, which was showcased earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show. The basic idea is that an electric car that works as a taxi on the road could be attached to a motorised quadcopter and can transport people from one place to another in and around a city. The Urban Air Mobility project is part of an EU initiative built around the context of the marketplace for the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Smart Cities and Communities (SCC).
Wow! The first step has been taken and even though it will be many years since we actually see one of these flying around in the city, we cannot help but get excited. Don't tell us you don't want to get into a flying taxi, because we surely do.
