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8 Facts About the First Air Taxi Trial in S’pore From 2019

2018-10-21 , 12:53 pm

The year is 2025 and you’re in Yishun (yay, it still exists). You take out your smartphone, tap a few times and make your way to a landing pad near your office. Your smartphone says that your air taxi would be arriving in 10 minutes. You watched a Goody Feed video, and soon after, this arrives.

You board it and in five minutes, you’ve landed in Orchard Road.

Think that’s a fantasy? It might not be, because air taxis would most likely be a reality sooner than we’d have expected.

Here’s what you need to know because if you’re reading this in 2025, I bet you might be wondering why people in 2018 were so shocked to read this #jusysaying #hellomyfutureself

What is Air Taxi?

First thing first: what’s an air taxi?

At this moment, air taxi is like booking a private airplane to get from one place to another. You won’t need to own a jet yourself but can book one instead.

Simply put, it’s like a private jet for the rich – at least that’s what it is known for. In other countries, getting from one state to another require a flight, and usually people take commercial flights (for example, from Singapore to KL, we go to the airport and fly from Changi Airport to KLIA).

Of course, that’s what air taxi is all about currently. That’s set to change.

The Trend is About “Flying Taxi” in a Small Area Instead

You can still call it air taxi, but what’s interesting is that compared to the traditional air taxi, this is more of a flying taxi for urban transport – for example, from Jurong to Tampines.

The difference is that these “private jets” are aircrafts that take off and land vertically, which means there’s no need for you to leave from an airport. And the distance is short, so it’s not from Singapore to KL, but from Yishun to Tampines.

And this isn’t something new.

Uber in the US Targets to have Their Own Flying Taxis by 2020

Yeah, you’ve read it right: Uber, the private-hire firm that broke all Singaporeans’ heart earlier this year, has also experimented and worked on this system.

In fact, the price isn’t that expensive: it’s estimated to be at about SGD$1.82 per passenger mile. Given that Jurong to Tampines is about 18 miles, the cost of getting from Jurong to Tampines in a drone is mere $32.76 – almost the same price as taking a usual private hire car.

Then again, that’s an estimation and based off US rates – it could be different, but it won’t be as expensive as taking a jet.

So, the future might be really closer than what we’ve expected.

Volocopter, The Company That We’ll Be Hearing More of in the Next Few Years

It’s not Uber that’s coming in to do the trial, if not it’ll be awkward (like meeting your ex, you know).

Instead, it’s Volocopter, a German aviation start-up. Last year in September, they’ve done a similar trial in Dubai.

Back then, how it works is similar to the make-believe story I’ve written in the introduction of this article: you simply book your drone from your smartphone to a helicopter pad, which they’ve aptly called the voloport, and wait. The drone would then come and pick you up to your destination.

The “scariest” part of this? There’s no pilot: everything is done autonomously.

So What’s this Trial That Everyone’s Talking About?

It’s easy to provide theories, but for authorities to allow trials, that’s a different story altogether.

Volocopter has the support of the Ministry of Transport, Economic Development Board and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) to conduct test flights in Singapore. CAAS would work with Volocopter to establish the scope of the test flights.

Here’s what CAAS has to say: “CAAS is pleased to work together with Volocopter to study the technical capabilities and develop appropriate operational guidelines to facilitate such trials in Singapore.”

What’s the Trial Going to Achieve?

The technology seems to be there, so it’s more of to assess whether there are feasible air routes that would work in Singapore, and of course how it can work with an air traffic management system. You won’t want drones to be flying around sukaly sukaly, right?

The other factors would be the weather and whatnot. These tests would be conducted in controlled locations, so you won’t be seeing drones outside your windows next year (yet).

Safety is a priority

Ask anyone who’s been in NS and they’ll tell you this: “Trial first, Safety Always”.

Okay, it’s actually “Mission First, Safety Always”, but you get the gist: safety must never be compromised.

So here’s what they have do say about safety: “CAAS will set strict guidelines for the conduct of these trials to ensure public safety at all times, and ensure that the necessary requirements are met before flight tests are allowed to commence.”

What’s The “Drone”?

Known as the Volocopter (which is also the name of the company), it’s actually a big drone that can seat two people and travel a distance of less than 30 km. They might look like helicopters but if you look closely, you’ll see it’s really a big-ass drone.

Over in the Dubai test, the flying taxi is flown by 18 propellers and has many fail-safes like back-up batteries and rotors. There are even parachutes within it.

More details of the trial would be revealed at a later date, but let’s face it: when it comes to technology, things would always move at a lightning speed.

Three years ago, many of us were still flagging taxis, remember?