A top regulator within the aviation agency of Europe has stated that the electric flying taxis might be cleared for take off by the year 2025 or even as early as 2024.
According to a Bloomberg report, the news arrives from Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The official made the statement in an online event earlier this week. Patrick Ky further added that autonomous drones will take at least five years more, while larger aircraft are expected to follow soon after. Furthermore, EASA has just started to work with companies on how to address unmanned flights. As per the regulator, the agency is also working closely with the US Federal Aviation Administration and other international regulators as well.
Patrick Ky stated that it’s easier to start with air taxi based vehicles “because we’re looking at smaller scale aircraft. We’ve not gone too far because it requires a lot of thinking on how you want to deal with the autonomy concepts.” The regulator made the statement in regards to autonomous passenger transport in Europe. Similarly, EASA has even published results of a survey on urban air mobility that had over 4,000 respondents from the region across six different European cities.
This survey found that 83 percent of the citizens had a positive initial attitude, with highlighting uses being emergency and medical transportation getting a boost with the aerial mode of travel. Although, vehicles that traverse over crowded cities would likely be subject to strict safety standards and regulators will likely face issues regarding noise.
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