\Mobility Interview/ Autonomous flying taxis will arrive by 2031, says Volocopter They will be accessible to everyone, not just for VIPs, says the German startup. By Maija Palmer 14 November 2019 \Corporate Innovation Contracts, scale and money: why European startups need corporates By Marie Mawad in Paris 24 February 2021 \Mobility Interview/ Autonomous flying taxis will arrive by 2031, says Volocopter They will be accessible to everyone, not just for VIPs, says the German startup. By Maija Palmer 14 November 2019 By 2031 not only will flying taxis be a norm in our cities but they will be flying autonomously, says Alexander Zosel, cofounder of Volocopter. The German startup, which is backed by a number of corporate investors, including German car company Daimler and US semiconductor company Intel, is building an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft suitable for ferrying people short distances across cities. “We want to build a service that is for everyone. It won’t be just shuttles for VIPs.” Volocopter has flown test flights in Singapore, Stuttgart and Dubai and expects to begin offering commercial services within the next two to five years. “We have a roadmap to start autonomous flights five to seven years after that,” says Zosel. So self-flying urban passenger jets could come sometime between 2026 and 2031 according to Volocopter’s calculations. Like its fellow German flying car startup Lilium, Volocopter wants to make flying cars a mass public transport service rather than a toy for the very rich. “Thirty years from now a lot of people will be taking a flying taxi every day,” says Zosel. “We want to build a service that is for everyone. It won’t be cheap but it will be affordable enough to be a public transport service. It won’t be just shuttles for VIPs.” The next step for Volocopter and other flying taxi companies is to get regulatory approval for their machines. Zosel says bodies like the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have been very open to the idea of electric urban air jets. Nevertheless, they have imposed much higher safety requirements on these aircraft — they must demonstrate a hundred times more safe flying hours than helicopters, for example. But the even bigger challenge will be public acceptance, says Zosel. His team has designed the Volocopter to be as quiet as possible, spacing out the rotors at an optimal distance for eliminating sound. They also deliberately made the aircraft look like a helicopter “so that people can understand how it flies” says Zosel. Instead of a single big set of rotors that you might see on a helicopter, however, the aircraft flies with 18 smaller rotors, much like a giant, souped-up drone. “Not just VIP shuttles,” says Alexander Zosel, founder of Volocopter Volocopter is not the only company developing urban air vehicles like these. There are at least 19 other projects to build so-called “flying cars”, many of them incredibly well funded. Lilium, which makes a vertical take-off and landing jet designed to go longer distances (around 300km compared with around 50km for Volocopter) has raised more than $100m from investors including Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent and Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico. California-based Joby Aviation, meanwhile, has raised more than $131m. Volocopter has so far raised €81.2m, including a €50m Series C round in September, led by China’s Zhejiang Geely. Another raise is likely to be on the cards, says Zosel, depending on how ambitious Volocopter’s roll-out plans are. “If you want to launch services in 100 cities, you are going to need a lot of money,” he told Sifted. Want the best of Sifted in your inbox? Our newsletter brings you the latest, greatest stories on startup Europe. Sign up Terms of Use Related Articles Thiel-backed psychedelic startup Atai raises another $157m By Freya Pratty Click here to read more Member Who will be Estonia’s next unicorn? By Kit Gillet in Bucharest Click here to read more Contracts, scale and money: why European startups need corporates By Marie Mawad in Paris Click here to read more Europe’s deeptech challenge: turning brilliant brains into breakthrough tech By Marie Mawad in Paris Click here to read more Get the best of Sifted in your inbox By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Sign up to \Future Proof Sifted’s weekly \Corporate Innovation roundup email By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Most Read 1 Member \Deeptech 21 European SaaS startups set to boom in 2021, predicted by VCs 2 \Startup Life Founders, stop chasing after the limelight — just build your damn product 3 Member \Fintech Inside Taavet Hinrikus’s vast angel portfolio 4 \Public & Academic What to expect from Spain’s Startup Law, with Francisco Polo 5 \Sustainability How are Europe’s startups capturing carbon? Join the conversation Subscribe Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments
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