Volocopter envisions "air taxi" stations that can handle 10,000 passengers a day
If you want to be taken seriously in the "flying car" business, you need a solid infrastructure plan. It's not enough to just have a cool-looking aircraft that can take off and land vertically. You also need a citywide system of landing pads, charging stations, and passenger loading and unloading areas.
From article, (If you want to be taken seriously in the “flying car” business, you need a solid infrastructure plan. It’s not enough to just have a cool-looking aircraft that can take off and land vertically. You also need a citywide system of landing pads, charging stations, and passenger loading and unloading areas. Uber is working on its own infrastructure plan, and now German startup Volocopter is ready to show off its own vision for a fully formed urban “air taxi” system, coming to a city near you.
Today, the company unveiled its vision for a network of rooftop “Volo-ports” where up to 1,000 passengers could board and disembark their own personal “flying taxi” every hour. That translates to 10,000 passengers per station per day, the company claims. These stations would include elaborate systems of conveyor belts, swappable battery packs, and elevators leading to vast charging ports — all designed to move the largest number of passengers possible while also ensuring its fleet of short-range aircraft are fully charged and ready to go.
Volocopter’s idea for a citywide air taxi system is clearly very ambitious. The company envisions building circular launchpads that jut out from the top floors of skyscrapers, from which Volocopter’s 18-rotor 2X electric aircraft could take off and land.
After landing, these vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft would be moved via conveyor belt to an indoor hanger, where passengers can disembark, and batteries are swapped out by robots for freshly charged ones. Then, the aircraft are transferred via elevator to a parking garage of sorts on the floor below, where maintenance work can be done before the vehicles are deployed for more passenger-transporting.
Zosel said Volocopter hopes to have a prototype station in place sometime in the next year, but acknowledged it will take up to 10 years before a full, citywide system can be put in place. The cost of these elaborate stations would likely be spread out over a number of partners, including real estate groups, charging station operators, ride-hailing companies, and Volocopter itself.
The company has demonstrated the 2X’s flight capabilities in Germany, Dubai (where the company is most likely to first launch its aerial taxi service), and more recently at CES in Las Vegas, where it announced a partnership with Intel.)
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