Porsche, Boeing Team Up on Planes in Future Urban Mobility Race
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Porsche and Boeing Co. are joining forces to push into the nascent area of urban flights with a plan for a high-end machine capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
Transport and technology companies across the globe are stepping up development of drones and other machinery to add more flexible options for people and goods in increasingly congested city centers. German startup Volocopter GmbH, backed by Daimler AG and the Mercedes-Benz maker’s biggest shareholder Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, recently completed a test flight in Stuttgart with a prototype that looks like a mix between a helicopter and a drone.
Commercial flying taxis could take off within the next five years, Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg said last week. Daunting hurdles remain before drones can be widely deployed, including an air traffic management system capable of staying on top of a chaotic city environment.
Porsche’s consulting arm expects the urban air mobility market to pick up after 2025. Its research indicates new transportation options could move passengers “more quickly and efficiently than current conventional means of terrestrial transport, at a lower cost and with greater flexibility,” the Volswagen AG unit said in a statement.
