Hyundai and Bell enter the air taxi spaceThus far, the development of the vertical-lift aircraft run on electric sources which is going to enable the dreams of a future which has urban air taxis has been largely under the purview of the small startups in aviation. Boeing and Airbus have been acquiring and, in some cases, partnering with the smaller firms and the automakers who are experts in mass productions even if it is not flying have been staying away from this sector but in this week’s CES this changed in a major way.
The manufacturers of helicopters, Bell have confirmed that the concept vehicle known as Nexus air taxi which was revealed in the previous year was just not a vaporware. This Monday, during the CES, this company had unveiled the mockups of a quicker, smaller and completely electric model known as the Nexus 4EK and this is based on the lessons which they have learned form the models earlier. Bell had also staked their claim on the future of aero-mobility by their announcement of a proposed system of a smart city which is going to help in the distribution of the services of the air taxis and also the drones which manage the operations, maintenance and the whereabouts.
At the same time, the carmaker from South Korea, Hyundai which is well versed in the productions at high volumes have come in a partnership with Uber Elevate for the creation of these air taxis as they also revealed a design as well as a support system for the future operations of air taxis.
This is being called the S-A1 aircraft and has the ability of carrying four passengers in the air taxis.
