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The UK is doing its part to ensure that air taxis are no longer just dreams.
Earlier this week, the UK government cleared Hyundai and Urban Air Port to build the world’s first eVTOL hub. Scheduled to launch later this year, the facility will not only serve as a port for eVTOL craft and autonomous delivery drones, but will also demonstrate the full potential of sustainable urban air mobility in the UK and beyond.
Although the development of eVTOL has come a long way over the past decade, there is still no real infrastructure in place for aircraft. But thanks to a grant of £ 1.2million (roughly $ 1.65million) from UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge, Hyundai and Urban Air Port will now move forward with construction projects to ‘a temporary airport in Coventry city center in central England. According to Reuters, from November this year, the Air-One hub will host live demonstrations designed to show how eVTOLs can be used for passenger transport, autonomous logistics and disaster emergency management.
The facility will also take up less space and use fewer resources than a traditional helipad or airport, according to a press release. Since there is no track, Hyundai says its physical footprint will be 60% smaller. It will also emit no carbon emissions and can also be operated completely off-grid, should the need arise.
Urban Air Port welcomed the UK move, saying it brings clean urban air mobility closer to becoming a reality. “Cars need roads. Trains need rails. Planes need airports. EVTOLs will need urban air ports. Over a hundred years ago, the world’s first commercial flight took off, creating the modern connected world, ”Founder Ricky Sandhu said in a statement. “Urban Air Port will improve connectivity in our cities, boost productivity and help the UK take the lead in a whole new clean global economy.”
Urban Air Port sees the Coventry hub as the start of a much larger and more ambitious project. The company hopes to develop 200 additional eVTOL port sites over the next five years, both in the UK and overseas. The era of the air taxi is about to begin.
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