Athletes will prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics, as well as the world’s first electric air taxi network.
“We make it happen,” said Solène Le Bris of the Paris airport operator Groupe ADP at Amsterdam Drone Week. “We’re trying to launch the first pre-commercial e-VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) service in the world; that’s our goal.”
In a brief speech on Tuesday, the first sketches of what has been called the “Tesla of the sky” were revealed.
Le Bris, a senior civil engineer, explained that the car has five steps where passengers can enter the vehicles, the first of which, in Cergy-Pontoise, opened in November and serves as a testing center.
Using the existing network of helipads, VoloCity’s vehicles, known as air taxis, will fly single-passenger, single-pilot routes on two short-haul routes from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Le Bourget and then to a new landing site at Austerlitz in Paris. another road from Paris to Saint-Cyr.
Thierry Allain, head of innovation at the regulator’s Direction General de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC), said a security approach to using existing networks is key. “In terms of regulatory issues, our challenges are not very big,” he said. “The regulatory burden naturally rests with the Aviation Safety Agency of the European Union; they have to certify VoloCity and the operator based on the regulation that is currently being drafted.”
According to Romain Er andny, head of aviation and mobility for the Paris region, public reaction will determine the future of air taxis. “The second step is the Olympics and the Paralympics,” he said. “The most important lesson is to see ow people react to these new typesservices. es. To most citizen of Paris, [hare] are still science fiction! They have to touch it, be in the vehicle, and we need their feedback. The Olympics are the beginning.”
The aim is to make the “passenger experience” at the ports as seamless as possible: some cities want it to be like a subway, others want more security, said Ankit Dass, chief technologist at Skyports, the British wing of the project. A team of experts is currently considering whether they need additional landings in case of problems and whether wind turbulence from the helicopters could have a negative effect, although the taxis fly lower.
Le Brin said it has not yet been decided how the tickets will be distributed, but there will likely be a limited number.
“We are also investigating the use of e-VTOL for medical purposes with hospitals in Paris,” he added. “Doctors say if you get there one minute earlier with a heart attack, your chances of survival are 10 percent better.”
Source: The Guardian
