Pilotless Aircrafts The Future Of In-City Transport

Traffic and congestion on roads have led entrepreneurs to look to the sky for a solution. Air taxis have been in the development phase for years, but now some companies have made strides towards autonomous and electric-powered aircrafts or air taxis.
SOUNDBITE - Marc Piette, Xwing Chief Executive Officer :
"You can dramatically reduce the price per mile to fly, and you can also switch business models. You can move away from flying buses, which is what the commercial aviation market is today, into down the road, flying taxis. By being able to remove the pilot from the vehicle, you can shrink those vehicles and still keep a very low cost per seat mile."
Earlier this year a Joby prototype crashed during testing. The aircraft was flown at speeds and altitudes far greater than it would have to handle as part of an air taxi fleet. However, Joby has declined to discuss the crash, until the US aviation regulators finish their investigation.
SOUNDBITE - Marc Piette, Xwing Chief Executive Officer:
"Most accidents in aviation, historically, have been due to pilot errors -- the vast majority of them. I'd say these are fairly complex systems, and there's a lot of mental workload on the pilot when he needs to fly an aircraft. And that's why automation can help because you can reduce that workload."
The eVTOL aircraft has a maximum range of 150 miles and a top speed of 200 miles per hour. Joby has announced the first of its aircrafts should be in the skies later this year. However, the company noted the need for establishing infrastructure to accommodate air taxis in modern-day life.

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