Paris Plans Electric Air Taxis Next Summer, More eVTOLs Predicted by 2028

The Associated Press reports from the Paris Air Show, where developers of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (or eVTOLs) demonstrated their surprisingly quiet electrically-powered craft. And in one year the Paris region "is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer."Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by green-lighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development there, the French capital's prospective operator - Volocopter of Germany - could be the first to fly taxis commercially if European regulators give their OK... The limited power of battery technology restricts the range and number of paying passengers they can carry, so eVTOL hops are likely to be short and not cheap at the outset. And while the vision of simply beating city traffic by zooming over it is enticing, it also is dependent on advances in airspace management. Manufacturers of eVTOLs aim in the coming decade to unfurl fleets in cities and on more niche routes for luxury passengers, including the French Riveria. But they need technological leaps so flying taxis don't crash into each other and all the other things already congesting the skies or expected to take to them in very large numbers - including millions of drones. Starting first on existing helicopter routes, "we'll continue to scale up using AI, using machine-learning to make sure that our airspace can handle it," said Billy Nolen of Archer Aviation Inc. It aims to start flying between downtown Manhattan and Newark's Liberty Airport in 2025. That's normally a 1-hour train or old-fashioned taxi ride that Archer says its sleek, electric 4-passenger prototype could cover in under 10 minutes. Nolen was formerly acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. regulator that during his time at the agency was already working with NASA on technology to safely separate flying taxis. Just as Paris is using its Olympic Games to test flying taxis, Nolen said the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics offer another target for the industry to aim for and show that it can fly passengers in growing numbers safely, cleanly and affordably. "We'll have hundreds, if not thousands, of eVTOLs by the time you get to 2028," he said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Paris show. The "very small" hoped-for experiment with Volocopter for the Paris Games is "great stuff. We take our hats off to them," he added. "But by the time we get to 2028 and beyond ... you will see full-scale deployment across major cities throughout the world." The article includes a skeptical quote from Richard Aboulafia of aerospace consultancy AeroDynamic Advisory. "You and I can take air taxis right now. It's called a helicopter."

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