#electric flying taxi dubai

[3nn-express]

Air Taxi Arrival in Dubai: Anywhere in the City within ten minutes.

Air Taxi Arrival in Dubai: With a 350 dirham minimum fare, Dubai’s RTA introduces an air taxi service that promises shorter travel times and a combination of aircraft and helicopter technologies for cutting-edge urban mobility.

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[lindsaystravelblogs5]

Days 58 and 59   Wednesday - Thursday, 30-31 October.    On the way home at last.

It was a hot night and we were up early, by 6.30 - early for us anyway.   We did the last minute packing and with everything ready to go, we went down to breakfast just after 7.   Our campervan man was scheduled to arrive to take us to the airport at 10am, for our 2pm flight Stansted to Dubai, en route to Melbourne. 

We sat in our room for an hour or so and then lugged all our gear down to the foyer to load into the car when it arrived.   It was almost half an hour late, but we still had plenty of time.  We had a big group of teenaged schoolkids ahead of us and some of them didn’t have all their documents in order, but we got through the check-in and then security with minimal fuss and we are now seated in an extremely hot plane, waiting for take-off.  We had a light lunch in the airport and a much-needed cold drink, but if they don’t cool the plane down, we will be desperate for another cold one very soon. 

A little later…….   Very soon after we took off, I looked out and saw a completely circular rainbow with the image of our plane in the centre.  I took a few photos but I don’t know if they will be good enough to post.   Sun Dogs and Cylindrical Rainbows.   Admittedly, I have seen partial rainbows on flight before but this one was particularly sharp and bright - until I got the camera ready.

I attempted to watch a movie but couldn’t follow the dialogue through the headphones so turned it off.  But the Country and Western channel is a great substitute.   Go Willie Nelson!  And then Johnny Cash, more Willie Nelson.   Dolly Parton…….   After a few hours, I graduated to the classical selection and listened to Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto - not the best rendition but still great.   Who could ever play it like Claudio Arrau?  His minuscule liberties with the timing in some of the solo passages is sublime - like no other rendition and intensely emotional.  I wonder how many flights I have survived listening to this particular piece?   Probably one of my all-time top five pieces of music.   How do I keep my hands still when listening? - it is one of those masterpieces that I just seem to have to conduct.  Many years ago, Heather bought me a baton so I could conduct at home, but hands work as well, and we very rarely listen to music at home. 

The entertainment options on board are quite exceptional with probably hundreds of film and television choices, and dozens of music albums from every period and in every genre you could imagine.  I explored quite a few and really enjoyed them - to the point that I would have (almost) to admit the flight was one of the better ones I have endured/enjoyed.

We got a meal on this leg - except that we didn’t.   There were two choices - chicken or salmon - and apparently few people wanted salmon.  We had to wait ages and call them back three times to get one chicken meal (to share) and some promised drinks.  Neither of us was hungry so no big deal, but we really needed the drinks. 

Arriving in Dubai airport after a seven-hour flight at 1.05am is not a great experience but we survived it and waited around in the transit lounge until it was time to board our even longer leg to Tullamarine.  The second leg is thirteen and a half hours, and we arrive in Melbourne just before midnight.   I really do hate flying, even with good music to ease the pain.

We were the last two people off the plane and there was a very long walk to our next lounge.   I reckon we walked well over half a kilometre before a little electric taxi came along and the driver invited us to ride along.  It is a free service for old decrepit folk like us, and we were really glad of it.  I reckon he drove us about another kilometre to our lounge and it was probably as far again to the end of the concourse.   There were fifty gates in concourse C and as many in concourse B that we traversed.  There is presumably a concourse A and who knows how many others?

The flight was about half an hour late in leaving but we had invested in Premium Economy seats, and they are quite a bit better than we have had on previous flights.   They are least as good as I have had in Business Class on domestic flights.   Boarding was a bit chaotic and there are many hundreds of passengers - no idea how many but the huge gate lounge was bursting at the seams before boarding began.   We were in the last boarding group F, and almost everyone else had been called through before our turn came.  But would you believe, Heather had her hiking stick that she uses on these long walks, and one of the attendants saw it and said to go with him.  He carried her bag and ushered us past a few hundred impatient passengers lined up in the incredibly long air bridge and we were among the first passengers seated.  Premium Economy seats are near the front, well forward of the engines, and we enjoyed the quietest take-off and flight I have ever had.  Some time ago, I tried to estimate how many flights I have had - it was quite a few hundred - and this was one of the smoothest and best.  We flew Cathay Pacific some years ago and I reckon that is the only one that might match this one.

I had my window shade open when sunset arrived above the clouds and I took a few photos.  The sight was quite spectacular so I hope I can share a little of the beauty with you.   Being so far above the clouds reminded me of a short story I read at school - was it H E Bates?  It was called The Sun Rises Twice and is about a WWII fighter pilot returning from a sortie who saw the sun rise when he was at a high altitude.  It disappeared as he flew lower, but he saw it again as it arose as he was landing back at base. 

The downside of the flight was, as usual, the couple seated in front of us.   Quite early in the flight, they both reclined their seats to the maximum meaning that some of the benefits of our investment in Premium seats became unavailable.  I said a few words and he complained to the stewards who shifted them but lectured me on allowing other passengers to do anything they liked and for us to just cop it.  He didn’t even have his facts right – but that is now ancient history that spoiled my heretofore favourable view of the flight.

We finally arrived at Tullamarine just before midnight and despite the prevailing chaos, aka airport incompetence, we were out in the concourse by about 12.30am.  Alas, Tony’s Taxi didn’t arrive – sorry Bev!  Because Heather had so much trouble with her phone while away, she told Bev to tell Tony to use my phone to contact us on arrival – but her finger slipped and she gave Bev my wrong phone number.  Bev dutifully passed this on to Tony and he was unable to contact us – and we couldn’t contact him.  After half an hour or so, we trudged the kilometre or so to a cab rank way past the far end of the terminal and waited another half hour for a cab to bring us home.

We arrived in our cosy little apartment about 2am, dumped everything in the living room and crashed into bed – with sleep still many hours away due to jet lag.  Then the dreaded lurgy hit us and ten days later, we are still suffering but hope to be better by Christmas.

That’s it for this blog!  Stay tuned for our next exciting adventure in February 2025 – India, in two episodes.

[bongaboi]

Panic at Kabul Airport as Afghans Rush to Flee Taliban After U.S. Evacuates Staff

Panic at Kabul Airport as Afghans Rush to Flee Taliban After U.S. Evacuates Staff

BY AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ, TAMEEM AKHGAR AND JON GAMBRELL/AP UPDATED: AUGUST 16, 2021 4:20 AM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 15, 2021 9:33 PM EDT

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — The U.S. military struggled to manage a chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan on Monday as the Taliban patrolled the capital and tried to project calm after toppling the Western-backed government.

The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the U.S. and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan. The country’s Western-trained security forces collapsed in a matter of days, even before the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops.

Thousands of Afghans fearing a return to Taliban rule are trying to flee the country through Kabul’s international airport. Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people racing across the tarmac as U.S. soldiers fired warning shots in the air. Another showed a crowd pushing and shoving its way up a staircase, trying to board a plane, with some people hanging off the railings.

Massouma Tajik, a 22-year-old data analyst, described scenes of panic at the airport, where she was among hundreds of Afghans hoping to board an evacuation flight.

After waiting six hours, she heard shots from outside, where a crowd of men and women were trying to climb aboard a plane. She said U.S. troops sprayed gas and fired into the air to disperse them. Gunfire could be heard in the voice notes she sent to The Associated Press.

The U.S. Embassy has been evacuated and the American flag lowered, with diplomats relocating to the airport to aid with the evacuation. Other Western countries have also closed their missions and are flying out staff and civilians.

By morning, Afghanistan’s Civil Aviation Authority issued an advisory saying the “civilian side” of the airport had been “closed until further notice” and that the military controlled the airspace.

Afghanistan’s airspace is often used by long-haul carriers moving between the Far East and the West. Early Monday morning, flight-tracking data showed no immediate commercial flights over the country.

In the capital itself a tense calm set in, with most people hiding in their homes. There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates. The Taliban freed thousands of prisoners as they swept across the country and the police melted away.

The Taliban deployed fighters at major intersections and sought to project calm, circulating videos showing quiet city streets.

“There were a few Taliban fighters on each and every road and intersection in the city,” Shah Mohammad, a 55-year-old gardener, said after coming to work in the diplomatic quarter. He said there was less traffic than usual and fewer people out on the streets.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, tweeted that fighters had been instructed not to enter any home without permission and to protect “life, property and honor.” The Taliban have also said they will stay out of the upscale diplomatic quarter housing the U.S. Embassy complex “so as not to create any confusion or problems.” The neighborhood also includes the posh villas of U.S.-allied former warlords who have fled the country or gone into hiding.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 with a harsh form of Islamic law. Women were largely confined to their homes and suspected criminals faced amputation or public execution. The Taliban have sought to project greater moderation in recent years, but many Afghans remain skeptical and fear a rollback of individual rights.

The Taliban had also harbored Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the years before they carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. That sparked a U.S.-led invasion that rapidly scattered al-Qaida and drove the Taliban from power.

But the U.S. lost focus during the Iraq war and the Taliban eventually regrouped. The militants captured much of the Afghan countryside in recent years and then swept into cities as U.S. forces prepared to withdraw ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline.

When the Taliban last seized Kabul in 1996 it had been heavily damaged in the civil war that broke out among rival warlords after the Soviet withdrawal seven years earlier. The city was then home to around a million people, most traveling on dusty roads by bicycle or aging taxi.

Today Kabul is a built-up city home to 5 million people where luxury vehicles and SUVs struggle to push through endemic traffic jams. Many of the younger Taliban fighters hail from rural areas without electricity or running water, and are getting their first glimpse of a modern city they had only previously heard stories about.

___

Faiez reported from Istanbul, Krauss from Jerusalem and Gannon from Guelph, Canada. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samya Kullab in Baghdad contributed.

[sanjosenewshq]

Flying electrical automotive wows viewers at Dubai tech present

It’s been 119 years for the reason that Wright Brothers wowed onlookers at Kill Satan Hills close to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Now, XPENG AEROHT has taken the dream of flight a step farther with the primary public unveiling of its flying automotive at GITEX GLOBAL 2022 in Dubai. Proceed studying beneath Our Featured Movies XPENG AEROHT is Asia’s largest flying automotive firm. On October 10, the corporate confirmed off its electrical, no-emissions XPENG X2 at Skydive Dubai’s airspace. About 150 spectators bought a glimpse into the longer term as they watched the glossy, teardrop-shaped automotive fly in entrance of Dubai’s ultra-modern skyline. Associated: Uber simply gave the world a primary take a look at its air taxi prototype “GITEX has performed host to pivotal moments over time,” stated Trixie LohMirmand, government vice chairman of occasions administration at Dubai World Commerce Centre, GITEX GLOBAL’s organizer. “At this time, we’re proud to help the primary public flight of the pioneering flying automotive XPENG AEROHT X2 in partnership with the Dubai Worldwide Chamber. Electrical flying automobiles are the way forward for journey, and it’s unbelievable to witness historical past within the making at this time.” Thanks! Maintain an eye fixed out for our weekly publication. Be part of Our Publication Obtain the most recent in world information and designs constructing a greater future. SIGN UP SIGN UP The XPENG X2 seats two and has a light-weight carbon fiber construction. It’s geared up with each automated and handbook flying modes. Moreover, it could drive each within the air and on the street. In automated mode, you possibly can chill out and let the flying automotive drive itself. However it’s not prepared for lengthy street, er, sky journeys but. In line with the corporate’s press launch, “Will probably be appropriate for future low-altitude metropolis flights and is ideal for short-distance metropolis journeys comparable to sightseeing and medical transportation.” XPENG AEROHT is an affiliate of XPeng Inc, a Chinese language electrical car maker, and was established in 2013. The corporate has greater than 15,000 protected manned flights underneath its belt. It’s gained prestigious industrial design awards and has raised greater than $500 million in capital funding. The large tech present GITEX GLOBAL 2022 was the proper place for the world to see the brand new flying automotive in motion. Greater than 100,000 folks from 170 nations converged on Dubai to attend the 42nd GITEX GLOBAL. By way of Enterprise Wire Lead picture through XPENG Originally published at San Jose News HQ

[toriexpress]

Chinese EV firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai [PHOTO/VIDEO]

Chinese EV firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai [PHOTO/VIDEO]

A Chinese electric vehicle manufacturing firm, Xpeng tested an electric flying taxi model in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates on Monday. The demonstration provided a glimpse of revolutionary technology that could convey people through cities high above any traffic. According to CNBC, the taxi called the X2 was developed by the Guangzhou-based XPeng Incorporation’s aviation affiliate and it is…

[mondonews]

Flight of the future! Two-person electric flying taxi debuts at Dubai tech show

Flight of the future! Two-person electric flying taxi debuts at Dubai tech show

Category: Technology Source: USA Today

[new-haryanvi-ragni]

Chinese electric FLYING car makes debut in Dubai, can travel at speed of 130kmph: Watch video

Chinese electric FLYING car makes debut in Dubai, can travel at speed of 130kmph: Watch video

Dubai Electric Flying Car Viral Video: Chinese firm tests first electric flying taxi in Dubai, can travel at speed of 130kmph: WATCH video here.  source https://zeenews.india.com/aviation/chinese-electric-flying-car-makes-debut-in-dubai-can-travel-at-speed-of-130kmph-watch-video-2520871.html

[pravasichhokro]

Experience of living in different cities

In my life of more than 7 decades, I have lived in some 8 cities starting from Ahmedabad, Pilani, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Yokohama( Japan), Muscat (Oman) and Bangalore, in that order. I will make an attempt to pen down the “trivial”, but not so common, features of my experience.

I was brought up in Ahmedabad from 1954 to 1967, which were mostly my student days. We lived on the outskirt of the city and our society of bungalows was surrounded by open fields where still farming was going on. Other than school and college, I was busy playing different games with my neighbors. I enjoyed Gujarati snacks and would take extra efforts to get them. Our neighbors were very kind and did not complain of our cricket or other games played anytime of the day. City had a very good bus service and it was our main transport. Our bungalow had a few tenants like us but it did have a problem of water and sewage. Water supply was short and erratic, and septic tank sometime spilt over. We loved the festival of Navratri ( Garba/Dandia) and kite flying on Makarsankrant. 

I shifted to BITS, Pilani hostel for five years from 1967. The change from day scholar to hostel life was huge. I could do what I wanted and when I wanted (freedom) except class attendance. Other than academic pursuit, I was able to indulge in sports/games. I learnt how to play basket ball, table tennis and contract bridge. I improved my ability to play carom, cricket and hockey. Being confined to the campus for a couple of months at a stretch, I enjoyed food in the mess and also outside at Nutan market/dhabas. I was introduced to black (udad) dal, lemon rice, mawa mutter, stuffed parathas and stuffed capsicum/tomato in the mess. Outside the campus got to taste Titar (partridge), reportedly a banned bird. I was bombarded by Hindi movies as every Saturday a movie was screened for students. I probably saw more than 125 movies in BITS in five years, compared to less than 20 movies seen earlier. Initially the old movies were screened in 16 mm in a quadrangle of the main building but later new movies in 35 mm in a huge auditorium. Once in a while, we escaped the campus life to see late night movie in a makeshift shed called Jayashree talkies.

After graduation in 1972, I lived in South Delhi till the late 70’s, initially as a bachelor and then a family man. Major problem of Delhi was public transport as I did not own a vehicle then. City bus (DTC), autorikshaw or yellow taxi were most unreliable and the operators ( drivers and conductors) most non-cooperative and rude. My wife, who joined me from Bombay, was most shocked as she compared this scene with BEST of Bombay. I did not face much problem as I used a contract bus to go to office. As a bachelor, I used to join others on most Saturday night’s for a party. The liquor law did not permit drinking in public so we sometime managed to cross into Haryana (Faridabad) and consumed beers and chicken. Returning after the fling was not a problem as “drive after drinks “was not an offence. In Delhi, we enjoyed different types of food –Punjabi and Chinese. Our favorite places were Lajpatnagar market, M block market in GKI, Narulas and Hongkong in GKI. Most tasty samosa was made by a small vendor in East of Kailash A block market. At residence, we faced water shortage and had to cook on kerosene stove.

We  shifted to Bombay in early 80’s and lived there for 8 years. Biggest difference was a moderate summer compared to Delhi and very efficient city transport whether bus, taxi or autorikshaw. We also enjoyed the sea and its beeches- Girgaon, Dadar, Juhu and Malad. We, however, had to face some water shortage. We once again were able to enjoy street food like batata vada, Frankie, bhel etc. We also loved Irani café menu of maska pav, kheema pav, baida( egg) roti etc. We started going to Marathi plays often and enjoyed the change from Hindi movies. I got to own a flat in 1982 and a Bajaj scooter in 1984. That made life easy.

We moved to Pune in the mid 80’s for a brief period and are staying there till date (more than 20 years) except our breaks to go to Japan, Oman and Bangalore. In first phase, we got to live in a bigger place, owned our own Premier Padmini car and telephone line at residence, all thanks to Thermax, my employer. The major sigh of relief was water availability and good round the year weather-moderate summer, monsoon and winter. These advantages remain even today. Pune offered the advantages of a village and city. Distances were short and day out picnic spots in the surrounding hills were approachable and affordable. I got introduced to music (performing arts) of all kinds –classical, light, gazal, filmy and non filmy. I was able to attend live performances of stars like Pt. Jasraj, Kaushiki Chakravarty, Shaunak Abhisheki, Hariharan, Raghunandan Panashikar, Jagjiy Singh, Alka Yagnik, Shankar Madhavan,Shaan, Sarod by Amjad Ali, dances by Hema Malini, Minakshi Sheshadri. Also new upcoming stars like Vibhavari Joshi Apte, Hrishikesh Ranade.Pune reintroduced us to Lord Ganesh and we love the ten day special festival of Ganpati. I was and am able to indulge in outdoor activities like walking, swimming and going to hills. We got introduced to YOGA-pranayam, Omkar, suryanamskar etc. We do it regularly even today. Our health received a boost as we got to know more about homeopathy medicines as my wife has seen lot of benefits to this alternative therapy. I was able to afford and enjoy different cuisines. My membership of a club once again enabled me to see a Hindi movie every week. Since it was free, one had the luxury to walk out of un-interesting movie without feeling guilty.

We moved to Yokohama, Japan during the 90’s. The change was huge-from “stone” age of Pune, India to space tech level in Yokohama,Japan. The weather was excellent and all the utilities-water, piped gas, electricity and land line were reliable and affordable. First time we used a Microwave oven and rice cooker with a timer. Only my daughter’s international school fee was a huge dent on my pocket but she had the best quality of education. We got initiated into Japanese food and loved visiting China Town for authentic Chinese cuisine. My daughter enjoyed the American fast food at McDonald’s and Pizzas at Shakey’s. Surprisingly there were more than fifty Indian restaurants in Tokyo area and we loved the Naan served there. The public transport (bus, train, taxi) was reliable, clean and convenient even for foreigners like us despite the language hurdle. We also enjoyed a ride on the famous bullet train (called Shinkansen) from Yokohama to Kyoto (400 kms). Like Japanese people, we also started visiting and appreciating the nature in the hills near Yokohama including hot springs and Mt. Fuji. We were surprised and shocked to find all public places-footpath, roads, stations, bus stops and toilets were spotlessly clean (clean like home). Another surprise was that weather forecast was very reliable and available in the lift lobby of the buildings. Being an island country, it would rain any time and this forecast helped. We also got introduced to huge superstores and malls.  Some malls were part of railway stations e.g. Yokohama. We also got to know the vending machine culture of Japan. Many daily required items (soft drinks, coffee, tea, snacks, milk, beer, cigarette etc) could be purchased from vending machines which were all over- on footpath, near stations, lift lobbies, parks etc.Even train tickets were on a vending machine. We also made our first visit to entertainment parks like Disneyland. We also got used to the deep tub (OFURO) bath that Japanese used to keep warm during winter. I got introduced to Sumo, the Japanese wrestling and professional baseball.

We moved to Muscat, Oman for two and a half years in the late 90’s. Other than the high temperatures (summer could be + 50 Deg C), the life was very enjoyable. Oman was an exception in the Middle East and it honored Indians and Hindus. The biggest hurdle to mobility was a driving license and I got it fast luckily. I was glad to drive around in a Camry, poor person’s Mercedes. We were regular visitors to 200 year old Shiva temple and newly built Krishna temple, both built and managed by kutchi community. We were able to buy Indian vegetables and fruits easily and reasonably priced. There was easy access to Indian restaurants and street food. We got introduced to Kerala paratha (laccha paratha) and some tandoori roti from Pakistani outlets. We got introduced to Lebanese cuisine and we loved it. We could go out for dinner, which also offered Indian music or Egyptian belly dance. We were privileged to see Hindi movies on Thursday night, a day before they were released in Mumbai. We were able to drive down to Dubai in 4 hours (400 Kms) and enjoy the shopping. Driving was a pleasure as all had to follow the traffic rules and they were followed. Muscat had lovely road side greenery and flowers, and they were maintained with great efforts. Muscat airport restaurant was open for non-muslims during Ramadan and that was a big relief.

After retiring from a Pune company in 2012, I took a short assignment in Bangalore. We were lucky to stay in huge residential complex in Whitefield. First time in our life, we stayed in high rise building on the 11th floor. We enjoyed the famous Bangalore weather but had to face mosquito menace. The complex had a zero water requirement as it treated and re-circulated most of the sewage. It, however, gave a bad smell in parking area (basement). We had to bear bad water quality. We used aqua guard treated water for cooking and bought Bisleri for drinking. The water quality also reflected in poor quality of green vegetables. Another problem we faced was traffic jams- it took almost 90 minutes from our residence to reach the airport. Most facilities in our area were catering to IT crowd and hence it was re-adjustment for us.

In conclusion, I can say that present day life style is a mixture of what we picked up from different cities. Ironically my wife always wanted and wants things from the cities we left behind. For example, she wants palak, green peas and fulgobi (vegetables) from Delhi, Fish from Mumbai, Farsan from Ahmedabad, Miso soup and Yakisoba from Japan, Mysore pak from Bangalore. These small things keep us connected to the cities we had lived in.

[rjzimmerman]

Not quite the Jetsons. Are we ready to have a bunch of tiny airplanes flying above us at relatively low levels? What about a control infrastructure, so that we don’t have crashes up there with bodies and metal litter falling on us? Is this something that can be “egalitarian,” or will its intended consumer be the wealthy (bet so).

Excerpt:

Autonomous vehicles have only just begun to navigate our streets and already the world’s innovators are setting their sights on the next big transportation trend.

Flying taxis.

Uber plans to create a network of flying taxis in Dubai and the Dallas area by the year 2020. Kitty Hawk — a flying car startup created by Google cofounder Larry Page — is already offering test flights to potential customers.

This week Rolls-Royce entered the fray, unveiling a concept electric vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) vehicle at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK. The vehicle could carry five passengers at speeds of 250 mph for approximately 500 miles, according to Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce said the vehicle could be airborne by the early 2020s, but the company said it plans to create a vehicle prototype within the next 18 months.

Rolls-Royce said the vehicle would fill a niche created by overtaxed transportation systems in increasingly crowded cities. Watson told Agence France-Presse that he envisions an electric version of the vehicle moving passengers around a city but a hybrid propulsion system carrying passengers longer distances, such as between London and Paris. The company noted that the vehicle could be adapted for military purposes as well, though no detail was provided.

“Electrification is an exciting and inescapable trend across industrial technology markets and while the move to more electric propulsion will be gradual for us, it will ultimately be a revolution,” Watson said.

[new-haryanvi-ragni]

Fly above traffic! THIS Chinese firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai

Fly above traffic! THIS Chinese firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai

Tired of traffic on roads? Worry no more as commuters will soon be able to fly above traffic as THIS Chinese firm tests electric flying taxi in Dubai, reports AP.  source https://zeenews.india.com/aviation/fly-above-traffic-this-chinese-firm-tests-electric-flying-taxi-in-dubai-2520468.html

[dailytechnologynews]

Top Ten Predictions FOR 2050

Autonomous vehicles become widespread – this should happen well before 2050 in developed countries (perhaps by 2030). The global road toll, currently over one million deaths a year, will eventually decline by 90% or more. Car ownership will continue for rise for a time (especially in poorer countries) then eventually start to decline. More efficient, autonomous, Uber-like taxis come to dominate road systems. Owning a personal car will eventually be much more expensive (especially as human drivers become increasingly hard to insure). ‘Flying’ versions (of the sort recently trialled in places like Dubai, like small electric helicopters) slowly emerge as well, albeit reserved for the very wealthy.

Other wealthy people and car enthusiasts will continue to own (regular) cars a long way into the future (like horses today). However in many countries, humans may eventually be banned/severely restricted from driving on public roads due to safety concerns (despite how unimaginable this may seem today). In the developed world at least, one of the last holdouts will be the US, as conservative politicians trumpet the rights of law-abiding car owners.

The space program takes off, but slowly – given current plans (especially by private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin) I would give at least 50% odds we will have a man on Mars by 2030 (only 12 years away). In just the last few years SpaceX in particular has proven the feasibility of reusable rockets. Pretty much all the requisite technologies are now here and the pace will slowly pick up as costs come down.

By 2050 several countries/major companies are likely to have space stations in Earth orbit, bases on the Moon and even Mars. Like bases in Antarctica today, these will mainly serve research and tourism purposes (plus a purely geopolitical one in staking out future territory i.e. the US and China build separate bases on the moon and then each claim a hemisphere). More probes will continue to be sent to the outer solar system. The earliest human missions to Jupiter or Saturn space may be in their early stages by 2050. Early efforts to mine the resources of the asteroid belt may be under way. Space-based solar power might have become a reality around Earth (though I suspect that, like nuclear power before it, the public will be sufficiently terrified by the thought of giant space lasers that plans will be stymied even if the experts say the safety concerns are greatly exaggerated). Space elevators remain impractical.

The world successfully finds new sources of energy and copes with climatic changes – for decades many people (some of them highly educated) have predicted that something akin to ‘peak oil’ was imminent and that shortly afterward the world might plunge into a Mad Max-style dystopia. This is unlikely. Not only have the world’s oil, coal and natural gas reserves proven to be vast enough to likely last us generations, but even if all fossil fuels vanished tomorrow, the world has enough uranium to supply our energy needs for thousands of years. CO2 levels will continue to rise and with it global temperatures will continue to tick upwards. However, the industrial capacity and ingenuity of the human race rises much faster. In 2018 your odds of dying from a natural disaster are an order of magnitude less than in 1900. This trend will continue.

The world’s urban population doubles between 2010 and 2050 (from 3.5 to 7 billion). Major coastal cities eventually construct elaborate flood levees as sea levels rise maybe two or three feet by the end of the century. Even in poorer countries, better infrastructure majorly cuts down on deaths due to disease, famine, floods, storms and other disasters (in the long run earthquakes remain the most unpredictable and thus the most dangerous). The predicted ‘climate refugees’ largely fail to eventuate, though millions are always seeking to enter the first world to find higher paying work, especially as automation ramps up and ‘cheap labour’ is no longer the powerful driver of growth it once was.

Fossil fuels remain the primary source of energy in 2050. However, solar, wind, nuclear and now fusion power plants are rapidly coming on line. By 2050 several record breaking tunnels, including from Sicily-Tunisia and Korea-Japan, have been constructed. A number of buildings over 1km tall have been built, with the highest (likely built in a prestige-hungry African country) surpassing 1.5km.

Major confrontations between the US and China over Taiwan and the South China Sea – there will almost certainly be at least one more (and possibly several) sequels to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ‘Taiwan Strait Crises’. This could take many forms. It might start with a Chinese blockade of the island, or an attempt to seize another, more minor Taiwanese asset (Taiping Island in the Spratlys stands out for instance, or possibly Kinmen and Matsu closer to the mainland). One such scenario is depicted here

Hard to be specific but I would predict better than 50% odds you will see Chinese and US warships shooting at each other at some point. However, I also think the odds are very low it will escalate into WW3. As both sides have nuclear-tipped ICBMs and the American and Chinese homelands are sufficiently far apart battles are likely to be confined to sea, air and fairly remote islands (though space and cyberspace are also likely). Other countries like Japan and Australia could easily get involved.

Hostilities may last for years but the eventual death toll will probably be in the thousands rather than the millions. More dire scenarios see a physical Chinese land invasion of Taiwan (though it is hard to see this succeeding) or a major escalation whereby one side tries to shoot down the other’s satellites, causing a chain reaction that destroys more or less everything in LEO. This, or a China-US trade embargo (10X worse than the current ‘trade war’) plus a prolonged shutdown of seagoing trade in the S. China Sea would cause severe economic disruption. However, again, probably no nukes and no WW3. My ultimate guess is that the US Navy prevails and in 2050 Taipei is still independent of Beijing (indeed – probably openly so).

Global politics will realign as demographic change and economic growth sees the rise of certain countries – in broad strokes this is fairly obvious, but we can take a stab at a few specifics. Despite earlier fears of runaway growth the global population is expected to increase from today’s 7.5 billion to maybe 10 billion in 2050 and thereafter stabilize. Also, despite much misinformation and fear-mongering the world today is much richer and healthier today than ever before.

The existing western world will maintain its dominance for some time yet. The United States in particular is projected to have healthy population growth well into the future. The US population should be around 400 million by 2050 (albeit increasingly diverse) and still third in the world (though Nigeria might overtake them towards the end of this century).

China since 1980 is the obvious model for other poor countries (though worth noting their streak of ‘10% annual GDP growth’ burned out in 2010, they have averaged 6-7% since). India’s economy is now growing faster than China’s and its population will overtake theirs by 2025 but it is starting from a much lower base. Despite many predictions, I suspect the US will remain no.1 in GDP at least until 2030 and will still be 1st or 2nd in 2050 (with China the only real competitor).

A complete implosion of China is possible. This could be caused by an economic crisis or a failed military venture abroad which destroys the legitimacy of the communist party and sparks a revolution calling for democratic and other reforms. Perhaps in tandem with this, North Korea implodes and is reunified with South Korea (this is unlikely to occur without a major change in China first, given their status as essentially a buffer state with the US-backed south).

One possible state that stands out as a future superpower is the ‘East African Federation’, an intended evolution of the existing ‘East African Community’ that now includes Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan. At present these states are very poor, with a combined GDP smaller than New Zealand. However, they are now growing at 6% a year. Linked by Swahili as a common lingua franca they are expected to have a population of 410 million by 2050 and 800 million by 2100 – not far behind India and China. If their political integration succeeds and their economic growth continues, the EAF could emerge as a major world power by mid-century.

Population declines and changing resource markets will cause the decline of other countries - on the flip side to the above, countries like Japan and Russia have a bleak demographic outlook. Russia in particular with anaemic economic growth and a growing Muslim minority may face substantial internal instability. The decline of oil (either due to the spread of new technologies or simply a global shortage) will also contribute. The country could even collapse entirely as depicted here

Individual European states face demographic and (relative) economic decline. However if the European Union survives as an institution (I would give better than 50% odds) its combined population of 450 million (even without the UK) and historical economic strength should help it remain a major world power well into the century. The anglosphere countries will continue to benefit from the rise of English to the global lingua franca.

In 2050 I suspect the Middle East, as in 2018 or indeed 1950, will continue to be something of a war-torn shithole. The brewing cold war between Sunni-Saudi Arabia and Shia-Iran is just beginning. Both could eventually get nukes (and then things get real interesting). The decline of oil, increasing calls for democracy/secularism/modernisation and ongoing ethnic tensions will all ensure continued chaos. An independent Kurdistan is likely to become a reality eventually. Turkey, now resurgent and by far the strongest country in the region, could take advantage of the weaknesses of the Arab states to advance south into its historical realm of influence (the entire region having been controlled by them until 1918).

On the whole Africa’s economic outlook is now improving and its demographics indicate that 40% of the world will be African by 2100. However, they still have a long way to go. Major wars, revolutions, epidemics and other disasters are likely to strike numerous times before then as they have in the previous 60 years since the withdrawal of the European colonial powers. I suspect in the next decade or two racial tensions in South Africa will also come to a head and the white minority will be forced to flee the country, i.e. Rhodesia in the 1980s.

Neural implants evolve from today’s smartphones – As we went from room-sized computers to PCs to laptops to smartphones (and maybe smartwatches and smartglasses as well) the ultimate result will be unobtrusive brain-computer interfaces that will quickly become universal (if not exactly mandatory – but trying staying employed without one). As with past computer technologies, the earliest adopters (from maybe the late 2020s) will be tech enthusiasts, time-pressed businessmen, and the young. Over another decade or so they will spread to the rest of the population in developed countries (with some inevitable holdouts, generally the elderly with little appetite to embrace more technologies and those with religious or other objections). Poorer countries (though now catching up) will be another decade or two behind. However, even in darkest Africa neural implants will probably be arriving by 2050 or so, as electricity and the internet already are today.

So what is a neural implant? Think of a smartphone but one that bypasses your ‘traditional’ senses. Rather than looking at a screen or listening via speakers, information will be beamed directly into your neocortex. Images/text/sounds and possibly other sensations will simply appear in your vision/hearing. This would apply to everything. When you walk down a shopping strip advertisements will flash up in your vision. When you want to communicate with someone, text/audio/video messages can be wordlessly exchanged via a little box popping up in the corner of your field of view. You can browse the global internet, check the weather, etc simply via thought commands. You can set a morning alarm that will wake up nobody but you! It’s at least as big a revolution in our lives as everything internet-related since 1990.

Of course, all this would come with staggering privacy concerns (i.e. the government or someone else being able to hack into your very nervous system and observe what you sense/observe – or perhaps even being able to ‘take control’ themselves depending on the nature of the implant). However, society finds ways to deal with these concerns, as we already have carrying smartphones around in our pockets. Expect to see a few neural-implant-Edward-Snowdens.

Major enhancements to the human body, either through gene therapy or surgery, start to become possible – neural implants are one thing, but just one element of our shift into what are essentially cyborgs. Artificial organs are already on the horizon. Designer babies are well on the way. Genetic doping in sports is probably already around. Genetically modified crops are already decades old.

Want to guarantee your kids will grow to be at least six foot? Have perfect vision and teeth? Such gene therapy will eventually not only be permitted, but calls will abound to make it free and universal (like education or healthcare today). On the plus side, our children and grandchildren will increasingly be free of the heavy burdens of genetic disease. On the other hand, if everyone’s kid has a perfect smile and can learn to play the violin with ease – how else does one stand out? Major social problems typical of a ‘modern’ society, such as obesity and drug abuse, will finally start to reverse after decades.

Of course, inequality will be a problem. Just as it is the world’s wealthy offspring who have access to braces or laser eye surgery today, the poor will have to do with their ‘natural’ bodies until such breakthroughs spread. A heart attack will prove fatal to an old man in Africa. In Europe it may mean the installation of a new heart and another decade of life. However, this is just the beginning.

Anti-aging efforts start to bear fruit – this one has many question marks attached, but I would expect that substantial progress will eventually be made. Global life expectancy is now 72 years, up from 67 in the year 2000 or 48 in 1950. Most of this has been as the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of vaccines, improved sanitation and nutrition and other changes have finally spread to the third world.

Modern medicine tells us the human body is an immensely complicated machine. Slicing and dicing our DNA is still proving immensely hard. Nonetheless, aging doesn’t seem to be an immutable law (like breaking the light barrier or time travel or anything). Once our understanding of the human body is sufficiently advanced, reversing every aspect of the aging process seems very possible. Maybe I’m falling into the usual trap of hoping for such developments before I get old (I will be nearing 60 in 2050) but I suspect we might finally be getting close. However, for a task of this magnitude, we might have to wait for the next step – the breakthrough to end all breakthroughs.

The singularity – this is the biggest question mark of all. While I feel the world until 2050 is relatively foreseeable (barring a nuclear war, solar flare, etc) the rise of superintelligent AIs is an event so overwhelming as to put all other predictions in doubt. Even if Moore’s law slows it is unlikely to stop, and current trends put the capabilities of silicon computers well ahead of anything our puny human brains can do by mid-century.

Suffice it to say I think the worst predictions about the singularity are unlikely to come to pass. Most apocalyptic scenarios about an AI taking over the world see a massive divide between that AI and the puny humans of 2018 (or earlier). By 2050 many humans will already be well on their way to becoming cyborgs. AIs of all shades will have been developed, doing everything from playing chess matches to playing the stock market. The gap between a ‘superintelligent’ AI and the rest of the world won’t be nearly as great, decreasing the odds that a single rogue entity will be able to hold the rest of the world hostage to its pre-programmed whims.

Nonetheless, the proliferation of superintelligence will strain every institution of our modern world. Major, apparently unassailable concepts like democracy and capitalism and the superiority of human life will come under question. Why bother with the cumbersome nature of a democratic legislature or the chaos of a free market, if a perfect AI can make better decisions? Why respect the world’s existing governments, if all their armies and weapons have suddenly been made obsolete by some godlike alliance of AIs? Why even bother with the ‘real’ world at all, if you can transfer your brain patterns to a hard drive smaller than your thumb and inhabit whatever virtual reality you please? In a world where humans as we’ve known them for the past 100,000 years have suddenly become obsolete, whatever will our silicon offspring do next?

[pogueman]

Look up! A dozen 'air taxi' flying cars are readying for takeoff

Well, it may have been 56 years since “The Jetsons” was first on TV, but flying cars are finally about to become real.

The last few months have been filled with news of companies that unveiled, demonstrated, or released videos of their “air taxis,” as they’re often called. They’re basically giant-sized versions of drones — giant enough to carry a person, or two, or five.

Why now? Because all the necessary ingredients have aligned: Batteries with high enough energy density to carry these copters into the air; composite materials like carbon fiber light enough to work; avionics (aircraft software and electronics, developed for regular drones) cheap and reliable enough to adapt; and collision-avoidance systems advanced enough to keep these things from crashing.

The beauty of these personal copters is that since they’re all electric, they’re really quiet. They could fly at low altitude without becoming a nuisance to people on the ground. And, of course, they’re pollution-free: zero emissions.

All of these models can be autonomous. You plug in your destination, and the thing flies you there. Some have a joystick so that you can seize control of it if you want, and most can also be remote controlled.

These air taxis are built with redundancies of the major elements, so even if something goes wrong, you won’t drop out of the air. Many have low-altitude parachutes, too.

Now, don’t get all excited. You can’t buy a passenger drone yet — that moment will probably come in 2020 at the earliest, and they’ll cost hundreds of thousands apiece. Even then, nothing will happen in the U.S. until the Federal Aviation Administration comes up with rules to govern how these things use the airspace.

Oh, and by the way: Even with all the advances in batteries and materials, these things are still super limited in flight time. You’re lucky to get 20 minutes in the air.

But the trend is unmistakable: A lot of companies have working prototypes that are taking real people on real flights.

Who’s taking off first?

Here are some of the flying machines that have surfaced recently:

eHang 184

This Chinese drone maker has been working on the eHang air taxi for four years, and it’s fairly far along. Since the capsule holds only one person, it’s small — about the size of a car. The prototype has made over 1,000 tests in China, sometimes in high winds and at even at night.

Here are the specs:

10-mile range

80 mph top speed

Partnered with the Dubai government, who wants to develop air taxis to service its cities

Lands automatically in case of a malfunction

A two-passenger model is on the drawing board.

Volocopter

One of the highlights of CES 2018 was watching this gigantic, 18-rotor craft land on the stage during Intel’s keynote presentation. (Also at CES: The Volocopter’s first passenger was Intel’s CEO, Brian Krzanich.)

The details:

Designed and built in Germany, where it has approval to fly

Autonomous, joystick-operated, or remote controlled

Carries two passengers

18 rotors, parachute

70mph cruising, 17-mile range

Conducting test flights in Dubai

Estimated price $300,000

Passenger Drone

Weirdly enough, this California passenger-drone company is called Passenger Drone, and so is its product — the Passenger Drone. It carried its first passenger in November.

16 rotors on 8 spindles

Autonomous, joystick-operated, or remote controlled

Carries two passengers

Top speed: 45 mph

25 minutes per charge

20-minute flight time

Joby

This copter is the brainchild of JoeBen Bevirt, who made his fortune from selling — I kid you not —flexible-arm GorillaPod camera tripods. Now, with the help of $100 million in investments from Toyota, JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Intel, it’s preparing a sleek VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) copter that can carry four passengers and a pilot for 150 miles. (Full disclosure: My wife does PR work for JetBlue Tech Ventures.)

A couple of weeks ago, Joby invited a pair of Bloomberg reporters to witness an unmanned flight. They weren’t allowed to take pictures or even describe the thing, which is a bummer. But they watched it fly, remote controlled, for a 15-minute flight. “Bevirt says thousands of these sky cabs will one day shuttle people around cities, soaring above the conventional traffic below,” goes the article.

Vahana

This prototype, developed by European plane maker AirBus, has propellers that point upward for takeoff, like a helicopter’s, and then rotate forward, like a plane’s. The company flew it, unmanned, for the first time last month.

Details are sketchy — they don’t even have a website (only a blog) — but here’s what we know:

Single-passenger

“Productzable prototype” in 2020

Parachute

Illium

Unlike most air taxis, which are propeller planes, this one is an electric jet with a 180-mile range.

Here’s the video of its maiden (unmanned) flight:

The bullet points:

Holds two people

180-mile range

275 mph

Vertical take-off and landing

First manned flight planned for 2019; on-demand flights by 2025

Based in Germany

And the rest

Just about any deep-pocketed company who’s anyone is diving in. For example:

Uber Elevate, its self-driving air taxis, are nothing more than a white paper and a killer CGI video at this point. But clearly, they’re all in on the concept; they expect to launch the air-taxi service within a decade.

Boeing bought Aurora Flight Services, maker of VTOL planes, in hopes of exploring the air-taxi concept.

Larry Page, CEO of Alphabet, has spent $100 million to fund two electric-craft companies. There’s Zee.Aero, which has prototypes for two VTOL electric passenger planes, and Kitty Hawk, which is making a no-license-required personal hovercraft for use over water.

Zunum Aero is working on electric versions of traditional passenger jets (700-mile range).

The Zunum Aero will be an all-electric jet.

We know this much about technology and disruptive change: Everything takes longer than we think, everything has unintended consequences, and everything’s subject to government regulation.

But with this much money and so many companies all chasing this dream, it seems likely that air taxis really will take off — at some point.

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here.  

[wildcat2030]

Dubai is moving full steam ahead toward a futuristic skyline dotted with modern skyscrapers and flying taxis by kicking off trials of the Volocopter two-seater aircraft. The all-electric 18-rotor vehicle took to the skies for the first time over the city on Monday as the city looks to establish what would be world's first self-flying taxi service.

[livioacerbo]

Volocopter is researching the best air taxis routes in Southeast Asia

Volocopter is researching the best air taxis routes in Southeast Asia

In 2018, Volocopter said it planned to fly autonomous air taxis within five years. So far, its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles have taken flight in Dubai, Helsinki, Las Vegas, Stuttgart and Singapore, where Volocopter recently opened offices. The company has also proven that its eVTOLs can integrate with manned and unmanned air traffic control.

For the upcoming feasibility…

[jbaquerot]

Tremendous strides by innovators have resulted in some fascinating and intriguing enhancements to the transportation industry. In fact, in many ways, it feels like the future of the transportation industry is already here. These developments will cause transportation companies to rethink job descriptions and figure out when humans should be at the helm or when they should defer to smart machines for safety, cost savings and capabilities.

Even though we haven’t quite hit widescale adoption of some of these technologies, many have been tested and prototyped and large-scale adoption seems imminent. Here’s an overview of some of the major developments that are changing the transportation industry.

Self-driving cars

By 2020, it is expected that 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road while there will be more than 250 million smart cars—cars connected to high-tech networks—sharing the road with them. There are already self-driving features on several vehicles that are available today thanks to Tesla, Mercedes and BMW. We can send our gratitude for this innovation to machine learning and the complex system of sensors, cameras and software that helps vehicles absorb data from their environments and learn and respond to what the data is telling them. Google’s self-driving car project Waymo has already logged the equivalent of 300 years of driving experience on city streets since 2009 and promises to free up our time, lower stress, make our roadways safer and improve transportation for us all. Even Uber is testing out and investing $300 million to further develop a fleet of self-driving vehicles.

Autonomous trucks

There’s certainly reason for the 8.7 million people employed within the U.S. trucking industry to be concerned about how self-driving trucks will impact their livelihood. Daimler Trucks just launched an 18-wheel, fully autonomous truck to drive on American roadways. Although not completely driverless, it can take over under certain conditions similar to an auto-pilot on today’s planes, as well as stay at a consistent speed, keep a safe distance from other vehicles and more. Swedish start-up Einride took it a step farther with a prototype of a self-driving truck with no cab that can be completely controlled by a remote operator or drive autonomously without human intervention. Last year, Uber’s self-driving truck travelled 120 miles to make its first delivery of 50,000 beers and in the UK self-driving truck platoons are being tested to cut down carbon dioxide emissions and improve efficiency.

Aviation and other things taking flight

Dubai, in collaboration with Volocopter, recently tested a potential drone air taxi. This model was a two-seater unmanned flying vehicle and it carried Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed on a five-minute flight. The vision is to ultimately be able to call an air taxi like you would an Uber and take to the skies instead of battle traffic. Meanwhile, Amazon is changing up delivery service by piloting Prime Air, using unmanned aerial vehicles to get customers their products in 30 minutes or less. Amazon was also granted a patent to develop a drone that can connect to an electric car in motion to recharge it.

Remote-controlled cargo ships

Rolls-Royce is taking to the high seas and revealed plans to develop cargo ships that can transport goods without needing humans on board. Multiple ships would be controlled by a land-based control hub; since there would be no crew on board, these would be cheaper to operate and have more room for cargo than today’s ships. They predict we will see a “remote-controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade.”

Machine learning leads to optimization

Whether it’s a train, plane or automobile, all of our connected devices yield tremendous amounts of data that we can use to improve safety and efficiencies throughout our transportation system. From tracking traffic and optimizing delivery routes, to payment processing and insurance premiums based on real-time data, data is the fuel that will power tremendous insights to enhance our transportation system. And what if you could prevent costly downtime with your fleet? That’s the goal of predictive maintenance analytics solutions from several companies that use computers to identify issues before trouble ever rears its head and is one of the main drivers for the industrial internet of things.

Times are certainly changing when it comes to the world of transportation. Powered by big data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things, our transportation system is poised to become safer, more efficient and smarter.

[endenogatai]

Volocopter kicks off presales for its first air taxi flights — with a wait time of 2-3 years

If your sad-faced technology mantra is ‘we were promised flying cars and all we got were these shitty Internet trolls’ never fear, Berlin-based autonomous air mobility startup, Volocopter, wants to revive your sci-fi dreams.

It’s just kicked off presales for trips in its forthcoming electric air taxi service, VoloCity — albeit, there’s no date on when exactly (or where) the commercial service will fire up. But if you shell out for one of the 1,000 available pre-launch reservations — which it’s branding ‘VoloFirst’* — you’ll be able to look forward to a future flight of up to 15 minutes, within 12 months of the service’s commercial launch, whenever and wherever that will be.

“Services will start in 2-3 years,” a Volocopter spokeswoman told us. “Cities are not defined yet, as it is not clear which of the many cities we are in contact with for commercial start will make the race.”

The price for the limited edition joyride — which will include a video of your trip and a “limited edition, personalized certificate” — is €300 (~$355).

Volocopter notes that tickets can be reserved with a 10% deposit.

“Based on our public test flights and regulatory achievement record, we have paved the way to make electric flight in cities common in just a few years. With the start of reservations, we now invite our supporters and innovators around the world to join us and be amongst the first to experience this new and exciting form of mobility,” said Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter in a supporting statement.

“While the final certification for air taxis is still pending, we do have a detailed realistic timeline to launch commercial VoloCity flights in the next 2-3 years,” added Volocopter’s chief commercial officer, Christian Bauer, in another, further noting that VoloFirst ticket buyers will be able to get the latest updates on its progress and commercial launch plan.

Reservations for the VoloFirst flights are available via the Volocopter Reservation Platform.

The German startup undertook the first-ever manned flight of a purely electric multicopter back in 2011, and has gone on to demo numerous public flights with its full-scale aircraft — including public test flights at Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019 and the world’s first autonomous eVTOL flight in Dubai in 2017.

The company topped up its Series C funding round to $94M earlier this year, bringing its total raised to circa $132M.

It’s one of a number of flying taxi startups vying to get a commercial service off the ground. Others include EHang, Lilium and Airbus with its Vahana VTOL.

*Volocopter doesn’t guarantee ‘VoloFirst’ trip buyers will be the first public users of the air taxi service — rather it says these early birds will have “among the first” bragging rights

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