Airbus Details Plan To Build Flying Taxis (autoblog.com)

CityAirbus is a new program from Airbus that aims to put commuters in the air to combat overcrowded cities. It sounds a lot like an airborne Uber, writes Brandon Turkus from Autoblog: "Passengers can use an app to book passage, head to their local helipad, climb aboard with a number of other passengers, and in the words of Airbus are 'whisked away to their destination.' Each ride would cost 'nearly the equivalent of a normal taxi ride for each passenger.' Beyond the advantages of avoiding traffic, Airbus claims its new conveyance will be faster, more sustainable, and, obviously, more exciting. Initially, the program would rely on a human pilot, but as with nearly every mode of modern transport, there would eventually be an autonomous version." The company has no timeline for when CityAirbuses will be ready for flight. They did note that the autonomous functionality will be the biggest challenge. "No country in the world today allows drones without remote pilots to fly over cities -- with or without passengers," writes Bruno Trabel from Airbus Helicopters. He leads the Skyways project, "which aims to help evolve current regulatory constraints." Project Vahana, a similar project that consists of an electric-powered, autonomous helicopter used for personal and cargo flights, will be tested in late 2017.

Comments

Re:Sorry, the FAA says no.

[JaredOfEuropa]

Wait, the FAA is now saying airlines can't take passengers on their flights?!

Or is the FAA simply saying that what those "ride sharing" services do amounts to commercial air transport, requiring appropriately licensed pilots amongst other things? Airbus is simply proposing to develop and build, well, an air bus. Presumably these things will not be used by ride or fare share services, but used by taxi companies with the right licenses and pilots with a CPL. FAA isn't going to say no to that (though they might have something to say about what this does to the safe use of airspace)