Various companies are beginning to consider short–distance air transit as an alternative to road.
Just as XPeng Motors created the first flying car, Delta Air Lines broached its investment of $60 million to design an air taxi to convey passengers to the airport.
The company has plans to partner in a 2% stake with Joby Aviation and is committed to investing another $140 million in the project.
Major airlines and tech companies in the transportation industry, such as Toyota Motor, United Airlines, Stellantis NV, and Vertical Aerospace Investors, have supported the proposal financially.
Joby is an aviation company based in the United States involved in developing electric aircraft. The company recently supported the commencement of eVTOL services as an air taxi service that takes off and lands vertically, indicating that no runway is required.
Joby Aviation expects to see flying taxis in 2024, which could reduce road congestion. The project aims to help customers beat traffic as they travel short trips.
The advantage of flying taxis downplays the rigor of longer transition time in road transportation. Both companies emphasized how much the air taxi investment would save an average customer, a journey of an hour or more would be shrunk to less than 10 minutes by air, but the cost of service was not disclosed. Also, air taxis do not emit carbon dioxide; hence, they are environmentally friendly.
In May, the Federal Aviation Administration, USA, certified Joby’s part 135 on Air Carrier. However, Joby still needs to obtain authorization to commence its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
The commencement of Air taxis across the United States can be presumed that Africa may soon have a taste, which could decongest intracity road use.
Air taxi investment can be a channel to maximize nature’s travel route. The concern may be the ease of operation in most African countries; how easy would the air taxi work in Africa?
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Image Source – Joby Aviation
