As demand for transportation continues to increase to levels of chaos and gridlock, alternatives to ground-based transportation are starting to emerge for urban and inter-urban travel and commuting. So-called ‘flying taxi’ projects are fully underway in companies including Airbus, and Boeing (Aurora) and Bell are fully engaged with multiple projects, while the two of the front-runners at present - E-Hang and Volocopter - have already presented static versions of their autonomous air transport vehicles at The Future of Transportation World Conference. In both the latter cases, these air transit ‘taxis’ are beyond the concept stage and already in the trial and test stages of development.

We will be talking with all of these companies and getting their speakers to discuss how their programs have developed during 2020. We’ll be looking at obstacles they may have encountered and where the pathway is for the deployment of (mass) low-speed (autonomous) air travel in and between cities.