The world’s first flying taxi service is set to launch in Abu Dhabi next year, with a US-based aircraft company securing over £1 billion towards the innovative transport system.
By the end of 2025, visitors to the United Arab Emirates capital could be able to travel around the city in a fleet of electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircrafts.
Four passengers would be able to fit in each vehicle, which would fly between “vertiports” around Abu Dhabi – in a move estimated to cut journey times by up to 80% – and could travel at speeds of 150 mph.
Journeys between the city’s airport and Emirates palace could be shaved down to between 5 and 8 minutes – a drastic improvement on the 45-minute car ride currently on offer.
The Midnight crafts, which are set to be rolled out in the UAE, are the product of a network of private and governmental backers, including Abu Dhabi Airports, the General Civil Aviation Authority and the Integrated Transport Centre, as well as members of the Abu Dhabi royal family.
Futuristic as they may sound, so-called flying taxis have been on the horizon for almost a decade – with car ride company Uber first floating the idea at a conference in 2016, and hundreds of start-ups built around the eVTOL model formed in the years since.
US-based Archer Aviation looks like it has the edge on its competitors, however, with plans to roll out the schemes in the US, Japan, India and South Korea if all goes to plan in Abu Dhabi.
“There are hundreds of cities that want air taxis,” Nikhil Goel, Chief Commercial Officer of Archer, told Forbes. “Abu Dhabi will be first, and that will be a lighthouse to the world to say, these air taxis are safe.
Archer have raised a reported £1billion in funding for the taxis.
Launching air taxi services in the Middle East is an easier prospect than tackling Europe and the US, Mr Goel added, because of regulatory issues including air traffic management and pilot training.
The Midnight crafts are 100% electric and initially expected to travel distances of between 20 and 50 miles – with a longer-term aim of up to 100, covering the 76-mile distance between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in just 10 minutes.
They have also been designed to complement the city’s cutting-edge modern architecture, with sleek silver surfaces and low noise levels. “It’s important to blend into the tapestry of the cities that we hope to serve,” Mr Goel said.
While the exact layout of the first flying taxi network has yet to be finalised, it will likely comprise five “vertiport” terminals capitalising on existing infrastructure to boost ease of travel around Abu Dhabi, including over the city’s waterways.
“People are super excited to use eVTOLs,” Alessandro Borgogna, an aerospace engineer at the Abu Dhabi Investment Office told the Independent.
“They’ll cut journey times, while also being safer, cleaner and less noisy than helicopters.”
Developers are hoping that the taxis will become as synonymous with Abu Dhabi as London’s famous black cabs and New York’s distinctive yellow taxis – and help to establish the UAE as a global hub for investment and innovation.
