It's less and less science fiction.
Flying taxis will make their first test flight in Ile-de-France in June 2021, on the aerodrome of Pontoise.
This is what Aéroports de Paris (ADP) and RATP, associated with Choose Paris Region (Ile-de-France international promotion agency) confirmed on Monday in this project to develop flying vehicles for transport. belongs to nobody.
The objective is then to have a “demonstrator” of flying taxis in real conditions for the 2024 Olympic Games.
What we call flying taxis are more precisely, in aeronautical jargon, “eVTOL”, electric flying vehicles with vertical takeoff.
A kind of mix between a drone capable of transporting passengers and a helicopter in less noise and less polluting.
Flying taxis: manufacturers will test their prototypes in Val-d'Oise
This Monday, ADP, RATP and Choose Paris Region specified the terms of these first tests, and who would be the many associated partners.
The goal is to leave nothing to chance.
It is not only a question of making a machine fly, but of taking into account questions of safety, logistics, maintenance, acceptability by the general public, passenger management, etc.
On September 30, ADP had already chosen Pontoise - Cormeilles-en-Vexin aerodrome as the location for the experiment.
The first partner is Volocopter, which will be the first industrial player to test its VoloCity vehicle from June 2021. But many others will be present, on all dimensions of the project.
Thirty partners in all were in fact selected, out of more than 150 applicants.
Airbus, Air France, Thalès, Safran, and start-ups
On the flying vehicle side, in addition to Volocopter, ADP and RATP have chosen Airbus, which has already developed a CityAirbus taxi, but also start-ups from China, Singapore and Slovenia.
There will be both flying vehicles for the transport of people and for the transport of goods.
In addition to the vehicle itself, four other categories are retained for the development of these flying taxis: infrastructure (so-called "vertiport" aerodrome, electric charging), integration into the airspace (traffic management, safety, etc. ), operations (navigation app, reservation, logistics) and acceptability (noise and socio-economic impacts).
Bruitparif will measure the noise
For the 30 partners selected, large groups are therefore involved, such as Air France, Dassault, Safran, Thalès, alongside specialized start-ups.
Public and university players are also present, such as Polytechnique, ESSEC, or Bruitparif, to measure noise impacts.
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For Edward Arkwright, Managing Director of ADP, the interest of all these players shows that these flying vehicles "do not only inspire dreams, but have intrinsic qualities: very greatly reduced noise, a low-carbon means of transport, a cost of lower maintenance and infrastructure and offers relatively high value on saving time ”.
RATP intends to bring its expertise in passenger transport in urban areas.
"We are thinking of a premium VTC type service, for urgent races," says Marie-Claude Dupuis, director of innovation at RATP.
With a flying taxi, you can imagine a direct Roissy-La Défense connection in 15 minutes.
After the tests in real conditions, the players are counting on an operational commercial service in 2030.
