Can’t wait for another flying car to appear in Europe sky.
Daimler, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company is said to have invested over 25 million Euros (P1.5 billion) into Volocopter, a start-up flying taxis firm.
Volocopter shared that with the fresh capital from Daimler, the company would expand the scale of production in its all electrically driven VTOLs, (eVTOL), accelarate the introduction process of its serial model and notably, conquer the market for flying air taxis.
Daimler is said to have invested over 25 million Euros (P1.5 billion) into Volocopter
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“We are world leaders in the development of electrical VTOL aircraft, and for it to stay that way in the future we are very pleased with the participation of the worldwide leader in automobiles,” said Florian Reuter, Managing Director of Volocopter.
Volocopter will carry out the first demonstrations of an autonomous flying taxi
Currently, there is not much information about the future flying taxi from Volocopter. However, rumors has it that the dream taxi would receive an electric powetrain, a spacious cabin to seat comfortably five people as well as a vertical take-off and landing. As production planning, in Q4 2017 Volocopter, together with the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai, will carry out the first demonstrations of an autonomous flying taxi.
Potential contender of Volocopter may include U.S.-based Terrafugia, California-based Joby Aviation German start-ups Lilium Jet and eVolo and even the commercial aircraft and helicopter manufacturer Airbus.
VOLOCOPTER: mi-drone, mi-hélicoptère (the german flying car) - E-Volo
Apart from investing in Volocopter, Daimler also actively collaborates with Hailo ride-sharing firm after having purchased a majority stake in the Uber rival.