{"id":6539,"date":"2023-06-29T15:14:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T15:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/?p=6539"},"modified":"2023-06-29T15:14:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T15:14:48","slug":"air-taxi-companies-stole-the-show-in-paris-last-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/air-taxi-companies-stole-the-show-in-paris-last-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Taxi Companies Stole the Show in Paris Last Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h95jtCArSyA\" width=\"740\" height=\"415\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><br \/>\nSeveral of the leading air taxi start-ups \u2013 including US-based Joby, Archer Aviation and Wisk Aero \u2013 showcased their vehicle prototypes at the annual Paris Air Show last week.\u00a0 How did they do?\u00a0\u00a0 By all accounts, the three companies wowed\u00a0 attendees with their technological design prowess as well as their readiness to move to full-scale production, pending regulatory approval.\u00a0 Pre-orders for their vehicles, already strong in the case of commercial airline companies, are beginning to pile up.\u00a0 Some major new deals were even negotiated on the spot.\u00a0 Yes, it was an exciting day.<\/p>\n<p>This was the largest Paris Air Show ever \u2013 some 400,000 flocked to the various exhibitions \u2013\u00a0 and the first since 2020, when COVID-19 forced the event\u2019s cancellation.\u00a0 It was also the first to feature an Air Mobility Section, a clear sign of how fast the drone industry, including the air taxi sector, is growing.<\/p>\n<p>Thrilled attendees wasted no time closely inspecting the various vehicles on display, smelling their interiors, and fidgeting with their controls.\u00a0 The only thing missing was an opportunity to actually test fly the aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>For some, it was Mountain View, CA-based Archer\u2019s highly-touted \u201cMidnight\u201d eVTOL air taxi that occupied center stage.\u00a0 The new passenger drone, developed in coordination with United Airlines as an elite airport transport shuttle, features 4 seats, with a payload of 350 pounds for luggage.\u00a0 The aircraft is configured to make continuous 20-minutes flights throughout the day, with just 10 minutes required between flights to allow for battery recharging.<\/p>\n<p>For others, the real star of the show was Volocopter, the German-based firm that just completed an 18-month test of its Volovision air taxi in Saudi Arabia\u2019s northwestern \u201csmart technology\u201d region.\u00a0 The company \u2013 one of the few to offer\u00a0 drones for short- and long-distance passenger travel as well as autonomous air cargo shipments \u2013 recently signed a contract with the 2024 Paris Olympics to provide air taxi travel to and from the event.\u00a0 It\u2019s an ambitious timetable \u2013 Volocopter\u2019s production plant in Brischal, Germany is still being expanded \u2013 but representatives at the asir show expressed confidence that the firm\u2019s drones would be ready.<\/p>\n<p>San Jose, CA-based Joby also weighed in with its own distinctive air taxi concept, which resembles an on-demand ride-sharing service like Uber.\u00a0 In theory, future consumers will be able to order their air taxi on a Joby app, and simply fly over road traffic, getting to their destination in record time.\u00a0 Can Joby taxis stay out of the way of other air and road vehicles?\u00a0 Where will the company\u2019s taxis circulate or be stored between flights?\u00a0 These were questions that remained unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>Other major air taxi companies, including China\u2019s EHang and France\u2019s own Turgis and Gaillard, producer of the Aarok military drone, were also on hand at the Paris event.\u00a0 If doubts still exist about the viability of air taxis, given a host of logistical and regulatory obstacles that still stand in the way of full-scale commercialization, little outright nay-saying was heard last week.\u00a0 This was an opportunity to give full vent to one\u2019s wildest Jetsonian dreams, not to express dour skepticism; there was magic in the air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff Several of the leading air taxi start-ups \u2013 including US-based Joby, Archer Aviation and Wisk Aero \u2013 showcased their vehicle prototypes at the annual Paris Air Show last week.\u00a0 How did they do?\u00a0\u00a0 By all accounts, the three companies wowed\u00a0 attendees with their technological design prowess as well as their readiness to move to&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/air-taxi-companies-stole-the-show-in-paris-last-week\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}