This article comes from WeChat public account: Silicon Valley Insight (ID: guigudiyixian) , author: Frank Chen
What is a flying taxi? Earlier this year, at the International Consumer Electronics Show (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas, USA, Hyundai Motor Corporation (Hyundai Motors) showed the prototype of the flying taxi co-developed with Uber, and further demonstrated to the public through virtual reality devices that driving in this concept model is one What kind of experience. This flying car has a top speed of 290 kilometers per hour and a flight altitude of 300-600 meters. It can seat 5 people and can take off and land vertically.
Uber and Hyandai co-developed a flying car, pictures from the Internet
Airbus has always been a vision of the future. As early as the 1940s, when the automobile and aviation technology had made considerable development, Henry and Ford, the founders of Ford Motor Company, boldly issued a scientific prediction that “flying cars will appear sooner or later”.So, at the beginning of the new decade, how far are we from the dream of flying?
Let ’s let the small detectives take you to the four markets of the United States, Southeast Asia, China, and Europe to see how the flying taxi innovations in each region are progressing.
United States: Cora launches trial in New Zealand, Uber establishes multilateral partnership
In the U.S. market, the most noticed innovations in air taxis come from Bosk, a strong innovation company jointly funded by the CEO of Google and Google, and Uber, a co-owner.
Wisk, a joint venture invested by Boeing and Google CEO Larry Page, announced in February 20 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the New Zealand government to use its all-electric autopilot Cora for a trial of flying taxis. The trial will be conducted in an area in Canterbury on the southern island of New Zealand. Wisk must also be certified by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority before it can be approved for Cora’s flight plan.
Wisk’s story began in 2010, and its parent company Kitty Hawk was funded by Google co-founder Larry Page (Larry Page) , Founded by Stanford University AI and robotics expert Sebastian Thrun. Kitty Hawk has released the flying taxi brand Cora, which has a 12-rotor flight system that provides ample vertical lift and a large fixed strut that can further propel the aircraft to about 160 kilometers per hour after takeoff . The vehicle travels at a distance of about 40 kilometers at a time, allowing more flexible travel in cities and densely populated areas, replacing cars and other forms of ground transportation. Cora can carry two passengers at a time, mainly using an autonomous driving system, while a pilot conducts real-time monitoring on land. Cora has completed “more than 1,000” test flights in the past few years.
Cora design drawing, picture from its official website
As Cora enters the commercial test phase, Kitty Hawk shifts its focus to a new aircraft. The aircraft is called Heaviside. This orange and black electric car has eight rotors that power its vertical take-off and landing capabilities and is 100 times quieter than a helicopter.
Kitty Hawk’s new model Heaviside, picture from the Internet
At the same time, another high-profile player in the North American market is Uber. Uber launched a helicopter service in New York in July 2019 , which aims to provide the city’s main airport transportation service, which costs about $ 200 to $ 225 per person per way. By opening the air service, Uber can explore its business model of flying cars in advance.
Uber’s helicopter service in New York, pictures from the Internet