From June 2021, Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin airport will host real-life tests of a flying taxi: the VoloCity.

This electric vehicle with 18 propellers, presented on Wednesday on site, will fly at 110 km / h and could eventually carry two people without a pilot. 

REPORTAGE

Will we soon be able to go to work in a flying car?

It is obviously not for tomorrow, but experiments in this area continue to progress.

On Wednesday, an “air transport sector for urban mobility” was officially launched in the Paris region, and the first experiments in real conditions will begin in June 2021 at the aerodrome of Pontoise-Cormeilles-en-Vexin, notably with an electric flying taxi. 

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"Behind us, you see the VoloCity which is an electric vehicle with vertical take-off. It's a bit of a mix between a helicopter and a drone", describes Fabien Nestmann, spokesperson for Volocopter.

Powered by its 18 propellers and 9 small electric batteries, it will fly at 110 km / h.

At first, there will be a pilot and a passenger, before the next stage.

"We are going to switch to automated mode, in air corridors dedicated to air taxis. There, there will be no more pilot. There will be two passengers in the vehicle," explains Fabien Nestmann. 

Hep taxi!


This is a Volocopter.

It will fly in 2021 but without breaking the sound barrier.

pic.twitter.com/aFLQNSWoQc

- Aurélien Fleurot (@afleurot) September 30, 2020

But before we get there, we must first test the entire ecosystem, explains Edward Arkwright, Executive Director of Groupe ADP.

"We will go beyond the photos, the anticipation or the films that we have all seen, and we will test it in real conditions, with control towers. We will see how it fits into the airspace, how residents accept these new objects, how security procedures are respected, etc. Rendezvous for the first flights next June. " 

70 euros for a Roissy-Paris journey

Another partner in the project, RATP sees these flying taxis as a way of diversifying and innovating.

And this is not science fiction, recalls its president, Catherine Guillouard.

"The goal of the game is to manage to make a demonstrator for the Olympic Games. I think that the moment when you will take a ticket to get in there, it is rather for 2030. But it is tomorrow", indicates t -she.

According to Volocopter, a 15-20 minute trip to central Paris from Roissy airport will cost around 70 euros.