Flight taxi test flight begins in New Zealand

Kitty Hawk, founded in 2016 by Google co-founder Larry Page, and Bongying’s joint venture Wisk, have been conducting a demonstration experiment in New Zealand in which an electric aircraft actually carries people.

The test is conducted by Cora, a two-seater electric autonomous airplane developed by Whisk, led by Sebastian Lune, who led Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s autonomous vehicle development. The plane is called through a mobile app and aims to provide a flying taxi service that combines autopilot and human remote control.

Flight taxis are steadily going through the process of realization. Germany’s Volocopter announced its first commercial flight taxi, the VoloCity, in August 2019. Uber also announced a flying taxi Nexus with its partner Bell during CES 2019 and announced that it will be commercialized until the mid-2020s.

Projects related to flight taxis and unmanned aerial vehicles are new types of transportation that have not been present. It has overcome numerous difficulties such as financial, technical and legal issues and infrastructure maintenance, and is heading for practical use. Once any company starts commercial operations, there is a possibility that it will rapidly become business. Related information can be found here .