From Israel to India, flying taxis are coming. Here’s how they could revolutionise travel

Life in cities the world over has become synonymous with bumper-to-bumper traffic. In many ways, road congestion has become part of a metro’s DNA. Can you imagine New York or Bengaluru without the snarls? Well, a sneak peek into the future offers a promise to make traffic jams a thing of the past. Air taxis are coming soon and the latest country to jump onto the bandwagon is Israel. Israel’s flying taxis The country has started conducting tests of autonomous drones that can carry both passengers and cargo. The first test flights of air taxis were part of a government-led pilot project, known as the Israel Drone Initiative (INDI), established in 2019, which aims to create a drone network across the country. The idea is to fly passengers and transport cargo from one place to another and ease traffic congestion on the roads. “This is the first initiative of its kind in the world for an extensive and multidisciplinary examination of new technologies, including the transportation of cargo and later, people,” Israel transportation minister Miri Regev was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel. Eleven drone operating and delivery companies were involved in tests and experimental flights throughout the country last week. Test flights of an autonomous flying vehicle and an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft which can travel long distances were carried out for the first time in a managed urban airspace with heavy cargo loads, the report says.

#Israel has carried out its first tests of an autonomous aircraft that can carry passengers & heavy cargo - an air taxi. The revolutionary aircraft which is part of the Israel National Drone Initiative is expected to serve as future public transportation (Pic Credit: Mark Nomdar) pic.twitter.com/I8c6N6LR4P

— Children of Peace (@ChildrenofPeace) June 6, 2023

The all-electric two-seater vehicles can carry a payload of up to 220 kilos and travel up to a distance of 160 kilometres. It has collapsible wings, which makes parking easier and can take off from land or any flat surface. “The aircraft being tested now will be able to bypass traffic jams, and ease congestion by removing cars and trucks from the roads in conjunction with air traffic management systems,” Orly Stern, CEO of Ayalon Highways, a government firm specialising in transport infrastructure told The Times of Israel. From Dallas to Delhi, air cabs everywhere While the country is taking big strides, it is not the only one looking to usher in an era of air taxis. The United Arab Emirates will also get air taxis soon. Dubai is reportedly set to launch the service in the next three years. In February, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the approval of the design of air taxi vertiports, places from where people can board the cabs. These flying cars will be able to accommodate four passengers and a pilot. They have a maximum speed of 300 kilometres per hour and will be able to fly about 241 kilometres and emit zero emissions. The fare will be in the range of the limousine service in Dubai or a bit higher, Ahmed Bahrozyan, an official in the Emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority, was quoted in media reports.

من القمة العالمية للحكومات .. اعتمدنا اليوم تصميم محطات التاكسي الجوي الجديدة في دبي .. والتي ستبدأ عملها خلال ٣ سنوات .. pic.twitter.com/tGQyPFVDUD

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 12, 2023

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This year, Dubai highlighted the six-rotor electric flying taxi made by Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz, California. But it has in the past displayed the Chinese-made EHang 184 and XPeng X2 or the German-made electric Volocopter. The UAE has not signed any partners for its service. Also read: Flying taxi debuts in Dubai: What is an air cab and how will it change the way we travel? If Israel and the UAE are on it, how can the United States and China be left behind? In May, the Biden administration formed an interagency team to develop a national strategy relating to advanced air mobility efforts such as flying taxis. The US transportation department said the team includes NASA, Transportation Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission. The FAA issued an “updated blueprint” for airspace and other changes to accommodate future air taxis, reports Reuters. The first eVTOL is expected to begin commercial operations only by late 2024 or early 2025. China has similar plans. The government has set deadlines to allow flying vehicles to ferry passengers for short distances by 2025, middle distances by 2030 and long distances by 2035. [caption id=“attachment_12706432” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Chinese-made XPeng X2 takes its first public flight in Dubai. File photo[/caption] The future of travel Uber also plans to get into the air taxi business. At an expo in Japan in 2018, it announced plans to introduce the service in Tokyo and Osaka, India’s Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, Australia’s Sydney and Melbourne, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro, and France’s Paris apart from Dallas and Los Angeles in the US. Uber Elevate, the aerial-ride-hailing service, was taken over by Joby Aviation to develop eVTOLs in 2020. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, said, “Advanced air mobility has the potential to be exponentially positive for the environment and future generations.” According to Daniel Wiegand, the co-founder and CEO of German electric air taxi maker Lilium, flying cabs will be the new normal in the coming years. “We think that similar to what we have with cars today, this will be a standard means of transportation for the whole society. And it will become normal for us in the 2030, ’40, ’45 time frame to use an eVTOL as we are using a car,” he said. Major auto and aviation companies like Toyota, Hyundai, Airbus and Boeing are invested in this market, which is likely to explode in the coming years. The autonomous urban aircraft market may be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040, a Morgan Stanley Research study predicted. This business is expected to change travel, especially the urban mobility landscape. With the potential to bring down operating and maintenance costs, the electric air taxi sector has investors lined up. In January 2020, Toyota invested $394 million into Joby Aviation and Boeing tested its prototype air tax more than three years ago. [caption id=“attachment_12706442” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A Volocopter 2X drone taxi performs an integrated flight in conventional air traffic at Pontoise airfield in Cormeilles-en-Vexin, near Paris, France, in November 2022. Reuters[/caption] Joe Praveen Kumar, who pioneered the Urban Air Mobility Research at Frost and Sullivan, told CNBC in 2020, “Air taxis are definitely the next phase of mobility… When air taxis become widely commercialised, they will definitely ease the traffic burden on city roads.” However, safety remains a concern. While the risk to passengers and those on the ground are to be assessed, it is also important to study the hazard they pose for other aircraft. And hackers as we know are always ready to wreak havoc. Hence, this sector will need regulations that will cover air safety, traffic control, noise pollution, and security, a report in CNBC says. Pricing is also a challenge. There is fear that air taxis would become something niche that only the rich can afford. A report by McKinsey says that for these urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles to become successful, trip prices must fall around 80 per cent from what it costs to currently travel in helicopters. Only then will they be able to compete with ground travel. [caption id=“attachment_12706452” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Adam Goldstein (R) and Brett Adcock, co-founders and co-CEOs of flying taxi company Archer Aviation, pose for a picture as they rehearse for the unveiling of their all-electric aircraft from a facility in Hawthorne, California, US in June 2021. File photo/Reuters[/caption] Plus, air taxis will need places to land. “If only a few ports are available, flying-vehicle transport could follow a pattern similar to that seen in today’s helicopter market, where the number of potential destinations is limited,” the report says. “The location of the infrastructure will determine market-conversion levels. The closer a passenger is to a takeoff or landing spot, the greater the potential for time savings. If a landing spot is too far away from the origin or destination, the customer might not save enough time for a UAM trip to make sense,” it added. The challenges are plenty. It might be a while until we Uber an air taxi. But there is no denying the fact that they are all set to take off. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.