By akademiotoelektronik, 13/09/2022

Japan combines with Airbus to take off the flying taxis

Japan has just trained a working group with 21 companies and organizations to accelerate the launch of a urban flying taxi.Airbus is one alongside Boeing or Toyota.Objective: to open the service within 10 years.

Japan does not want to let the train from flying taxis pass.This revolutionary mode of transport is in the midst of a development phase with many companies that each develop their prototype.Airbus was one of the first to embark on this race, which may explain that Tokyo has chosen the Toulouse group to integrate an international working group.

A speed of 120 km/h

Composed of 21 companies and organizations, it should allow the archipelago to bring these flying taxis into service in ten years.We also find Boeing, the leader of VTC, Uber, but also Japanese like Nec, Toyota or Japan Airlines.

Most actors are already working on taxi drone projects.Airbus recently presented its model called Cityairbus.Capable of boarding four passengers, the drone will approach two tonnes for a speed of around 120 km/h.Its mission is clearly urban to get rid of traffic jams that congestion world metropolitan areas.

Cityairbus will, for example, find an ideal playground for connections between airports and city centers.The maximum race will not exceed a distance of thirty kilometers.Far from being science fiction, Cityairbus is already very real.

Develop legislation

The "Iron Bird", literally iron bird, that is to say a sort of model reproducing the electrical structure and the aircraft systems has already been brought under tension in the German Taufkirchen factory.This step allows in particular to test the four electric motors of the Cityairbus before a first flight which could intervene on a prototype by the end of 2018.

If Japan is surrounded by the state of art in flying taxi it is mainly to reflect on the evolution of the legislation.Concretely: how to safely insert these new aircraft in airspace, without creating risks for populations and passengers?

Altitude, speed, landing zones, etc..All parameters for safety flights will be explored.Some major world cities have already set up this principle of urban air shuttles, but with helicopters.These include Sao Paulo in Brazil or New York.The constraints are substantially the same for drones which, positive point, are much less noisy.

No pilot on board!

These taxis are indeed designed to be autonomous, that is to say without pilot.The first tests and test flights will be carried out without anyone at the controls.The idea is to allow the customer to enter their destination thanks to their smartphone.The on -board intelligence will do the rest to transport it safely.However, faced with the reluctance of certain customers to be driven by a machine, a pilot will be present during the start of commercial operation.The price of the race could cost less than a VTC today.