Flying Taxis Could Be The Solution To Counter Traffic Problems In 2024 Olympics In Paris

Self-piloted vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft would be used during the 2024 Olympics held in Paris, said Airbus representative. He chose the Paris Air show, the world’s largest aerospace-industry exhibition event to announce the plan, implying Airbus’s ambition to become the first certified provider of this vehicle in the world. If VTOL aircraft successfully rolled out this time, Airbus would bring this futuristic technology one step closer to reality.

Road map and current process

Aeroports de Paris (ADP) has some time to pick out a qualified ‘Vertiport’ until this year ends. The chosen site is required to have enough room for one of 10 flying taxis and be located around Paris.

As expected, the city infrastructure will be completed within 18 months to support the operation of flying taxis. The construction requires an investment of $11.3 million. Although there are lots of barriers that need to be dealt with, urban infrastructure is one of the most important factors to determine if the plan can become true. ADP said they would also test out the link “via an existing helicopter corridor”.

According to the announcement at Paris Air show, Airbus is co-operating with ADP to carry out the mobility schemes. The aircraft manufacturer already got two prototype models including the single seater ‘Vahana’ and the four-seaters one ‘CityAirbus’. Within the next several years, a new VTOL vehicle could be released based on the convergence of these two projects.

Factors to consider

There are some requirements for a flying taxi to operate in such a crowded city like Paris. Firstly, the plan might not obtain widespread public acceptance, which might put an end to it.

Secondly, for the vehicle itself, there are technical conditions regarding anti-collision detection and battery power. Besides, it is the traffic regulation and the security levels that the vehicle needs to satisfy before running on the ‘road’.

Nonetheless, VTOL remains a very potential industry when the market is estimated to be worth $17 billion for the US alone in 2040.