For years, science fiction has played a role in inspiring the development of new and improved technological ideas. However, some ideas have often felt like something far off in the future in terms of realistic possibility including flying cars. However, the world-first electric Urban Air Port which has won UK Government backing might be about to change all of this. This exciting new idea will open up in the UK after winning the government backing and approval needed to take operations further.
Air Port Air-One is a mixture between a trio of groups – Hyundai, Urban Air Port, and Coventry City Council. They have won the agreement from the UK Government’s Future Flight Challenge to create an aviation system that would better work for the next generation of electric and automated vehicles. Given we are only years away from the development of a whole new kind of motor industry, such innovations as this can only be good for public progress moving forward.
The hope is that Air-One will be launched in 2021 and will be close to the high-traffic area of the city that includes the Ricoh Arena. This will be the first-ever fully operational hub for future electronic vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. This will include the use of automated drones but also the use of things like air taxis, which are becoming an idea taken direct from most popular sci-fi movies and writings.
While the concept might still seem strange to some, this is a movement that is taking place with 100% government backing. The UK Government has long been under pressure to make more moves into the use of modernized forms of transport and automation. The agreement to back this project, then, looks like proof that such pressure has worked.
Why are flying taxi ports becoming a part of the UK?
The main reason why this has taken place in the United Kingdom is that there was already the London-based Urban Air Port group to work with. Already experienced and in the process of developing such a system themselves, Hyundai was seen as the ideal partner for both groups. This allows for an easier, more effective growth of a new market in the UK whilst being overseen by a team of already-present professionals.
Hyundai, too, is excited about the potential for development of its own eVTOL aircraft in the years to come, as well. This would provide them with the chance to create a commercialized system that could be used within the UK by 2028. By helping to lay the groundwork for an industry they already intend to step into, Hyundai is helping to both prove the market exists and that it can be successful through smart moves.
Flying taxi ports might seem like an idea draped in science fiction tropes. Yet, as has been shown in the developments taking place in Coventry, such changes are not only possible, but they are plausible. While the ideas might not be unique, their implementation in a real-world scenario almost certainly is.
