11 Electric Air Taxis That Could Revolutionize Your Daily Commute
Air taxis will debut this year in places like France, Italy, South Korea, and Central America. They’re already flying in China. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is a global movement to launch a new mode of transportation using what amounts in most cases to super-sized, passenger-carrying drones, known as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. While the name is clunky, the concept is quiet and sustainable: Move people and goods faster and safer than a car, while producing less noise and carbon emissions than a helicopter.
The first air taxis are just getting started, but most analysts expect a half-dozen to be commercially certified by 2026, and to be part of mainstream urban transport in the next 10 years. The multi-passenger eVTOLs on this list are different than one-person electric aircraft used for recreational purposes and regional eVTOLs that will take on existing commercial airlines. As the name suggests, they are almost strictly for urban use.
Aviation is something that roughly 80 percent of the global population has never experienced. Intracity air travel is rare, and limited to helicopter travel. But that will all change with the advent of air taxis. They will be commonplace in large urban centers like New York, London, and Paris, as well as being critical to easing the ground congestion in megacities like Sao Paulo, Mumbai, and Cairo.
Ideally, AAM will not only achieve its goal of broadening the reach of aviation to benefit more people but also increase the frequency of those benefits. Instead of two flights per year, imagine a city where many fly twice each day as part of their commutes.
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