Forget about self-driving, Airbus wants a future of self-flying cars, and it wants to launch them sooner than you could have imagined.
The aerospace giant said yesterday it’s creating a flying taxi (there is definitely a Fifth Element parallel here) that could be hailed using a smartphone app, similar to current ride-hailing solutions. The company is hoping to have a prototype vehicle ready by the end of this year, according to Reuters.
The second-largest aerospace company created a new division it’s calling Urban Air Mobility to look into new transportation options like helicopter-hailing and massive drone transport.
“One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground, now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground,” Enders told the DLD Digital Tech Conference in Munich. “If we ignore these developments, we will be pushed out of important segments of the business.”
The projected benefits of these radical new modes of transit are reduced traffic congestion and pollution in congested cities while lowering the cost of city infrastructure.
Not to mention the prospect of flying in your own personal aircraft.
H/T CNET
