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Airbus Sets Up Urban Air Mobility Division for Flying Taxis

When car sharing transportation services started popping up, they immediately drew the attention of carmakers all over the world. For the biggest players in the automotive industry, their customers owning a car is just as good as them renting one, and as a result several have already set up their own car sharing companies.
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Photo: Audi
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In the aviation industry, another type of startup is making strives to transform urban mobility. Uber, through its Elevate project, is working hard at making flying taxies a reality.

Just like with car sharing and automakers, it was only a matter of time before aviation giants became interested in Uber’s idea.

According to Bloomberg, Airbus is the first to react to this new segment of the market by setting up a division tasked with overseeing the need for and subsequent development of flying taxis and on-demand helicopters.

This week, the Urban Air Mobility was born, and it will be led by 40-year old Eduardo Dominguez Puerta, the man until recently in charge with the company's new business strategy.

The aircraft builder has already previewed several flying contraptions for the urban mobility sector, including the flight module used by Audi in its Pop.Up Next concept.

“We now need to gear up, build partnerships with various stakeholders, including air safety agencies, and define and conduct pilot projects,” Airbus CEO Tom Enders said in a statement cited by the source, adding that the company is open to cooperation with several car manufacturers for joint projects.

Airbus’ flying taxis are likely to come in the shape of drones, the likes of Vahana. Services like the ones offered by on-demand helicopter booking platform Voom are likely to be used to attract customers.

Regulations and air traffic control requirements for the city-flying Airbuses are the responsibility of the Altiscope project, while the autonomous urban parcel delivery by drones service would be handled through the Skyways project.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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