Initially just a dot on the horizon, the insect-like, electrically powered craft buzzes over Paris as the city’s traffic snarls. It gives its likely awestruck passengers elevated views of the Eiffel Tower and the city’s distinctive zinc-grey rooftops before gently hovering downward. Thus, if everything goes according to plan, a new chapter in aviation history might be written.
The aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it claims is now just around the corner after years of dreamy and not always credible talk of flying, non-polluting electric taxis.
When it hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 next summer, the Paris region plans to take advantage of its moment in the spotlight by operating a small fleet of electric flying taxis on multiple routes. If European regulators give their okay, Paris’s prospective operator, Volocopter of Germany, could be the first to fly taxis commercially if China’s aviation regulators don’t approve a pilotless taxi for two passengers in development there.
“He believes in the innovation of urban air mobility, Seeing the president fly would be a strong signal for Europe.”
Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke, a former top executive at aerospace giant Airbus,
Dirk Hoke, the chief executive officer of Volocopter and a former executive at aerospace giant Airbus, has chosen none other than French President Emmanuel Macron as his hoped-for first Parisian passenger.
Hoke said this week at the Paris Air Show, where he and other developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs for short, competed with industry giants for attention, “that would be super amazing.”
On June 21, 2023, the Archer midnight flying taxi will be on display at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris. For a week, CEOs from the aviation industry and high-ranking government officials from around the world congregated at the Paris Air Show to make deals and see demonstrations of the most recent air and space technology in the world. Credit: AP Photo/Michel Euler
Hoke said of Macron, “He believes in the innovation of urban air mobility.” Image courtesy of AP and Michel Euler. The president flying would be a strong signal to Europe.
But whether or not Macron was on board, those pioneering first flights would still be just small steps for the still-developing industry, which still has a long way to go before flying taxis can beat out their competitors on the ground.
Due to the limited power of battery technology, eVTOL hops are likely to be brief and expensive at first due to their limited range and limited capacity for paying passengers.
The idea of simply zooming over city traffic to beat it is appealing, but it also requires advancements in airspace management. In the coming decade, eVTOL manufacturers plan to launch fleets in cities and on more niche routes for luxury passengers, such as the French Riviera. However, technological advancements are required to prevent flying taxis from colliding with one another and all of the other objects that are either already congested in the skies or that are anticipated to do so in large numbers, such as millions of drones.
At the Paris Air Show on June 21, 2023, in Le Bourget, north of Paris, people talk by the autonomous aerial vehicle eHang. For a week, CEOs from the aviation industry and high-ranking government officials from around the world congregated at the Paris Air Show to make deals and see demonstrations of the most recent air and space technology in the world. Credit: AP Photo/Michel Euler.
According to Billy Nolen of Archer Aviation Inc., “we’ll continue to scale up using AI, using machine-learning to make sure that our airspace can handle it.” The company plans to begin flying between downtown Manhattan and Newark’s Liberty Airport in 2025. AP Photo/Michel Euler Archer claims that its sleek, electric 4-passenger prototype could cover that distance in less than ten minutes, whereas a traditional taxi or train ride would typically take an hour.
During his time as acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Nolen was already collaborating with NASA on developing technology to safely separate flying taxis. Similarly, as Paris is utilizing its Olympic Games to test flying cabs, Nolen said the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics offer one more objective for the business to go for the gold: that it can fly travelers in developing numbers securely, neatly, and moderately.
In an interview with The Associated Press at the Paris show, he stated, “We’ll have hundreds, if not thousands, of eVTOLs by the time you get to 2028.”
On Monday, June 19, 2023, a demonstration flight of the electric vertical takeoff and landing multicopter Volocopter 2X is carried out in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France. Credit: AP Photo/Lewis Joly.
The hoped-for “very small” Volocopter experiment for the Paris Games is “great stuff.” He went on to say, “We salute them.” However, “you will see full-scale deployment across major cities throughout the world by the time we get to 2028 and beyond.”
Some aviation analysts, on the other hand, aren’t buying into visions of eVTOLs becoming readily affordable, ubiquitous, and convenient alternatives to ride-hailing in the not-too-distant future, even on the cusp of what the industry portrays as a revolutionary new era beginning in the city that spawned the French Revolution in 1789.
In addition, some eVTOL developers predicted that rivals would run out of funding before they could launch prototypes, even though they were optimistic about the prospects of their sector at the Paris show.
With advancements in battery and propulsion technology, analysts at Morgan Stanley anticipate that the sector will be worth $9 trillion by 2050 and $1 trillion by 2040, respectively. Analysts assert that the difficulty of obtaining new aircraft certification from U.S. and European regulators will account for nearly all of that after 2035. Credit: AP Photo/Lewis Joly.
Richard Aboulafia of AeroDynamic Advisory, a consulting firm in the aerospace industry, stated, “The idea of mass urban transit remains a charming fantasy of the 1950s.”
“The real issue remains that ordinary people like you and me do not have regular or exclusive access to $4 million vehicles. Right now, you and I can take air taxis. It is known as a helicopter.
However, Volocopter anticipates that the electric taxis taking to the skies of Paris at the same time that Olympians are traveling at a faster, higher, and more powerful pace may surprise in a pleasant way.
A floating platform on the improved River Seine would land one of the five Olympic routes in the city’s center. Developers point out that ride-hailing apps and electric scooters used to be seen as crazy by many customers. As with those technologies, some people are betting that flying taxis’ early adopters will encourage others to try them as well.
Volocopter CEO Hoke stated, “It will be a totally new experience for the people.” However, when someone looks back on what changed as a result of that twenty years later, they refer to it as a revolution. Additionally, I believe we are nearing the next revolution.”
