Companies envision taxis flying above jammed traffic

SAN FRANCISCO: As urban traffic gets more miserable, entrepreneurs are looking to a future in which commuters hop into"air taxis" that whisk them over clogged roads., Joby and Wisk are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters then propel forward like planes.

Commuters would make it the rest of the way however they wish, even synching trips with car rideshare services such as Uber, which owns a stake in Santa Cruz, California-based Joby. Joby has declined to discuss details of the remotely piloted aircraft's crash, which occurred in an uninhabited area, saying it is waiting for US aviation regulators to finish an investigation.

Its eVTOL aircraft have a maximum range of 241km, a top speed of 321 per hour and a"low noise profile" to avoid an annoying din, the company said. Hurdles on the path include establishing infrastructure and adapting attitudes to make air taxis a part of everyday life."Getting people to want to travel in a different way will take some rethinking."Roads are congested with traffic that wastes time, frays nerves and spews pollution.Miami and Los Angeles are already exploring the potential of aerial ridesharing, and Archer is hoping to have a small air taxi service operating in at least one of those cities by the end of 2024.

"Imagine flying from London to Newark, New Jersey, then getting in an Archer and being deposited somewhere in Manhattan," Bristow said.Silicon Valley startup Xwing specialises in making standard aircraft capable of flying safely without pilots, with an aim of turning commuting by air into a cheaper and more efficient way to travel.

South Africa South Africa Latest News, South Africa South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Yelp, other companies take stance on abortion rights with travel benefitYelp, Amazon, and Citigroup are among a small but growing number of companies rolling out policies to cover costs for American employees who need to travel out of state for an abortion. Yelp was one of the first to offer support for its employees who might need to travel out of state for access to abortion
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Illumina ordered to pay Chinese company $333 million in gene-sequencing patent caseA Delaware jury on Friday ordered Illumina Inc to pay more than $333 million to a U.S. unit of Chinese genetic analysis company BGI Genomics after finding that Illumina's DNA-sequencing systems infringed two patents.The jury also said Illumina infringed the patents willfully, and that three patents it had
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »

Revenge Travel is Picking Up: 4 Companies That Will BenefitTravel is returning with a vengeance as people satisfy their itch to go on holiday. These four companies stand to benefit from this trend. The post Revenge Travel is Picking Up: 4 Companies That Will Benefit appeared first on The Smart Investor.
Source: YahooSG - 🏆 3. / 71 Read more »

US companies break long silence on abortion rightsNEW YORK: After carefully avoiding the taboo topic for decades, more and more US companies are taking a stand on the right to abortion, a sign of a new generation with growing influence and very different expectations than their predecessors. Mere hours after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion indic
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »