News - Self-Flying Taxis 'Twice As Fast As Cars' To Become A Reality Thanks To Airbus' Project Vahana

News - Self-Flying Taxis 'Twice As Fast As Cars' To Become A Reality Thanks To Airbus' Project Vahana

Some of the biggest tech giants in the world, always on the search for something new, are now focusing on creating a flying machine that's going to be different from an air taxi and similar to a helicopter.

AIRBUS/PROJECT VAHANA VIA BUSINESS INSIDER

Uber and Google are already on their way to creating prototypes ready for unveiling in the next few years, and joining them in the playground is the Airbus Group known for working closely with Federal Aviation Administration in the US. They're doing so under what they've termed Project Vahana, which, in turn, is being operated from Airbus' Silicon Valley arm, A³.

Hybrid cars or cars that can fly are not news. What's different this time round is that Airbus plans on creating a machine that's modeled on Vertical Take-Off and Landing or VTOL aircraft, in short, and it's not so much about creating a car car, but a helicopter that can be put to both commercial and personal use.

AIRBUS/PROJECT VAHANA VIA BUSINESS INSIDER

This means these aircraft can do without a runway, and take off or land much like a helicopter especially considering the fact that each vehicle will have eight rotors. Additionally, the machine will be electric, made for a single passenger and completely self-flying. Zach Lovering, who oversees Project Vahana spoke to Business Insider and said that this machine will be aware of "the order of a city size," and "the diameter of a city," and will be "twice as fast as cars."

Dailymail.co.uk quotes Airbus CEO, Tom Enders as saying, "It's not crazy to imagine that one day our big cities will have flying cars making their way along roads in the sky. In a not too distant future, we'll use our smartphones to book a fully automated flying taxi that will land outside our front door – without any pilot."