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In collaboration with its subsidiary Italdesign and Airbus, Audi presented a prototype of the modular, mobile and flying air taxi Pop.Up-Next. Audi is convinced: "Taxis-flights will come".
In March 2017, Audi presented the vision of an autonomous electric-powered air taxi with Italdesign and Airbus. As part of Drone-Week in Amsterdam, a flying and moving prototype of Pop.Up-Next was presented for the first time.
Pop.Up-Next: The change was yesterday
At the Drone-Week, the prototype Pop.Up Next – hybrid self-propelled electric vehicle and pbadenger drone on a scale of 1: 4 – presented a first public test flight: the flight module was able to place a pbadenger capsule on the vehicle platform, which would then be autonomous from the test area leads. With this solution, going from one means of transportation to another would be a thing of the past.
With Pop.Up-Next, Audi and Airbus want to explore the limits of the technically feasible. In the next step, companies want to fly and pilot a full-size prototype.
Audi is convinced that this type of multimodal locomotion will become a reality in the next ten years. The director of purchasing and information technology, Bernd Martens, is certain: "Air taxis will come." In particular, attracting more and more people to the cities and through progressive automation would always remain mobile. According to Martens, it is mainly the elderly, children or people without a license who use autonomous taxis.
Audi and Airbus test service on demand with helicopters in South America
Audi, in conjunction with Voom, an Airbus subsidiary, is testing in the future a sort of precursor to multimodular traffic on demand since the summer of 2018 in South America. Customers can book flights by helicopter to Mexico City or Sao Paulo – a vehicle will be provided by Audi to get to and from the landing site. "Such offers help us better understand the needs of our customers," says Martens. With taxis, taxis will be approached in the future, a wide range of city dwellers.
In addition, Audi supports the Ingolstadt Air Taxi Initiative, Urban Air Mobility, which is preparing a taxi test operation at the Audi site. It is part of a joint EU project within the partnership for a European innovation market on smart cities and communities.
With this project, we want to convince the population of the benefits of new technologies. In addition, they are looking for answers to questions about technology, regulations, certification or battery infrastructure.
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