Volocopter debuts air taxi infrastructure for cities

Volocopter has been working to bring air taxi services to the masses for a while now. It has now unveiled its air taxi infrastructure for cities that is meant to integrate air taxis into existing transportation systems. Volocopter says that its infrastructure could support mobility for up to another 10,000 passengers daily with a single point to point connection.

Volocopter expects that its first full air taxi systems with dozens of Volo-hubs and Volo-Ports will be in place in the next decade. Volocopters are emission-free electric aircraft that take off and land vertically. The aircraft has redundancy in all critical systems for safety. Based on drone technology, Volocopters can carry two people with initial distances of about 27km.

Volo-Hubs are similar to cable cart stations with Volocopters landing and taking off every 30 seconds. Battery packs are swapped automatically at the hubs. The Volo-Ports expand the Volo-Hub and offer direct access to a company, shopping mall, hotel, or train station. They don't need charging or parking infrastructure and are less complicated to build.

Volocopters are aimed at inner-city transportation. The aircraft are extremely stable and meant to handle the micro turbulences around sky scrapers giving a smoother ride to passengers.

The company says that the Volocopter is very quiet and from 100m away you won't be able to hear it over typical city background noises. There is no indication of how much a Volocopter might cost at this time.

SOURCE: Volocopter