It's been something like 6 months or more since since Airbus it was announced that the company was working on what they themselves had dubbed Project Vahana, a very interesting idea where it was expected to develop the air taxis of the future, a kind of large drones capable of housing people inside to transport them from one point to another in a completely autonomous way.
After several months without knowing anything about the progress of this project, it has been the CEO of Airbus himself, Tom enders, which, in its latest statements, has confirmed that today the company is beginning to manufacture the first prototypes, although it will not be until the end of this year 2017 when the first field tests will begin to be carried out where it will truly show up to where the company's technology is capable of reaching.
Airbus wants its flying taxis to be a reality in all major cities by 2021.
Among the new details that have seen the light, it should be noted that if until now we believed that it was Airbus A3, the innovation division of the company, the one in charge of the development of the project, it seems that this has created a new subdivision called 'Urban Air Mobility'which is the one that is truly in charge of everything related to the development of this species of taxi drones as well as the relationship with the different governments so that they implement the necessary regulations.
Apparently and contrary to what different media made us think at the time, this project is more than interesting for Airbus since, according to its own CEO, this system would be capable of reduce the huge road congestion that currently exists in all cities while it would be allowed to restructure them, reducing priority to the streets where cars currently circulate.
Further information: Reuters