A flying car that anticipates the future of urban transportation

A woman looks out the window, her back to the viewer in a marketing video for the company Airbus. Is in a big city, and in front of it they fly drones of various sizes and formats. In puridad, circulate, because these unmanned aerial vehicles not only offer a new phase of aviation. The so-called third sector of transport is the sky, where you will have to plot safe routes for the management of urban traffic. The film was aired on Tuesday during the International Week of the Drone, held in Amsterdam. It was advertising, but also providing information about a market evaluated at 112.000 million euros, not yet regular, and at the point of emergence in the ecosystem of mobility. That is to say, in the transfer of cargo and passengers.

Audi has presented for the first time a prototype (scale 1:4) of the Pop.Up Next, your air taxi electric, in the Drone Week of Amsterdam, and also conducted the first flight test to the public.

The Pop.Up Next (developed by the German company, along with Airbus and Italdesign) it is a vehicle with a two-seater, 100% electric, self-contained and able to move both by road as fly over the cities. To do this design with a VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) and has a modular structure that allows it to be divided into three parts totally independent.

To see how it could be an on-demand service of this type, Audi is conducting testing in South america in cooperation with Voom, a subsidiary of Airbus. Customers book a helicopter flight in Mexico City or Sao Paulo, while an Audi is ready for the transfer to or from the place of landing.

Inside of the drone Pop Up Nex. Peter Dejong AP

"The services as this helps us to better understand the needs of our customers. Because in the future, the taxis flying appeal to a wide range of inhabitants of the city. With Pop.Up Next, we are exploring simultaneously the limits of what is technically possible. The next step is a prototype of a full-size fly and drive", said the responsible Supply of Audi and president of Italdesign, Bernd Martens.

The brand of the four rings has also launched the project of Air Mobility Urban in the German city of Ingolstadt, through which will start to operate in test mode for a service of air taxi, in collaboration with various partners and public administrations of the country.

Integration and security

“These vehicles will have to be integrated in urban environments and at airports traditional to operate with the safety of the air traffic control. 85% of the aerodromes of large cities are about 35 kilometers from the center, and the electric technology will allow to operate drones, because they will have greater autonomy and propulsion systems in the future. Will be a market of billions, with vehicle certificates that will begin to be introduced in the cities within about five years. Between 2125 and 2030, will grow an industry with challenges clear: the safety, but also noise, visual pollution and the preservation of privacy. Therefore, in Airbus, which has 1,500 Celtabet aircraft in the world and operate more than 7,500 helicopters, we know that the entry of these new services has to be gradual,” says the industrial engineer Spanish Eduardo Dominguez Puerta, director of the Unit of Air Mobility of the Urban construction company of civil aircraft.

scale Model of the Pop Up Next Peter Dejong AP

it has Not been necessary to ask, " security and privacy are the two terms repeated by experts, politicians and industry in the encounter Dutch, and the slovenian Violeta Bulc, european Commissioner for Transport has been quantified with rawness. “In 2017, died 25.300 people in the EU in traffic accidents. About 135,000 citizens were injured of varying severity, and their care and rehabilitation costs millions of euros. Taking into account that the development of drones is unstoppable, it is better to move all together: researchers, companies and politicians. Innovation is the key word, but if it is not accompanied by security, would not achieve the social acceptance of the drone in the urban environment,” he said. Shortly after, made its inaugural flight, covered, the scale model of Pop.Up Next, a taxi flying, that Uber has a prototype that resembles a cross between a small airplane and a helicopter. Airbus calculates that a decade will pass before seeing them in the air. Uber would like to have them for 2023.

while the drones set the pace for the future of urban mobility, still lack of regulation at european level. Hence, EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and the European Commission have prepared a series of fundamental rules that they expect to approve in 2019. “The regulation should create a european market common to the 28 countries, that respects the privacy of the user and contribute to their safety”, according to the Agency. To reinforce the effort policy, both partners, together with national authorities and representatives of the industry, be adopted this Wednesday, the Declaration of Amsterdam. Between the sections, to evaluate, to figure “the obligation to implement a chip to the drones without a pilot, used by the public in general, to avoid flying in prohibited areas”. “Neither will be able to fly more than 120 meters of height.”

In the Netherlands, where it is necessary to monitor and control the bridges or dams, a drone can reach much farther than an inspector. “We will see more with the drones. It is an innovative vehicle and also a market full of opportunities,” said good-morning, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, minister Dutch Infrastructure and Water Management. Or as Patrick Kay. Executive Director of EASA, “is a growth industry and there is to be prepared.” Come on, that is the other verb key to the universe of the drone.