Flying taxis could help smart transport take off
Flying taxis have this week moved one step closer to take-off, as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) opens a consultation for new rules to govern drone-filled skies.
And not a moment too soon. Last month, a drone capable of carrying human passengers was trialled in Gloucestershire, while another British firm is working on electric vehicles that can take off vertically and ferry us from A to B.
Both hope to take to the skies commercially in the next couple of years, and the industry is hopeful that the EASA consultation will spur both regulatory and technological progress.
Read more: Addison Lee signs deal with self-driving startup for a London revolution
In other taxi news, on Monday minicab firm Addison Lee announced that it planned to have self-driving taxis on the roads by 2021. The technology envisioned in sci-fi films could finally be coming to London.
But our excitement should be tempered. If flying and self-driving taxis are the transport of tomorrow, the transport innovation of today is – or should at least include – the electric scooter.
Dreamt up in Silicon Valley, fleets of e-scooters have been taking European cities by storm. Costs start at around $100, but enterprising startups have translated the ride-sharing model to the scooter world, for as little as $1 per ride.
It’s easy to see why commuters are flocking to this quick, environmentally friendly form of transport, that unlike cycling doesn’t require them to change clothes or shower once they arrive at work.
Britain, unfortunately, is having none of the e-scooter revolution. The Department for Transport (DfT) considers them “personal light electric vehicles” and has ruled them illegal to ride anywhere in public. They are apparently too dangerous for riding on pavements, but because they have no pedals, they can’t be used in cycle lanes – and they’re too low-powered for driving on roads.
This catch 22 is depriving London of smart, eco-friendly transport fit for the twenty-first century. It also reveals the perils of regulating via inertia – common sense says that e-scooters should be classified along with e-bikes, but legacy categorisation wins out.
If this is what happens with the relatively simple case of a kick-scooter with some added vroom, it seems unlikely that flying taxis will be ferrying people through the London skies anytime soon. Nevertheless, the fact that regulators are consulting on new guidelines, rather than trying to shoehorn drone aircrafts into existing categories, is grounds for cautious optimism.
If nothing else, the prospect of the futuristic flying taxi – self-driving or otherwise – should nudge DfT to reconsider its archaic stance on the far more humble e-scooter.
Read more: Driverless flying taxis could be heading for London