Jeson Clarke

What are Air Taxis?

If you live in or around a major metropolitan area, you've likely taken a taxi at some point in your life. Taxis, cabs, yellow cars - whatever you call them, these vehicles provide small-scale transportation to get people around urban areas. Although services like Uber and Lyft have muscled their way into the passenger transportation space over the last decade, your traditional taxi remains a standard in cities across the world.

Air taxis, however, are quickly gaining prominence in engineering and aviation circles. An air taxi has traditionally been considered any type of aerial vehicle designed to transport people across small areas. These craft are usually small helicopters or passenger planes, but electric vehicle technology has allowed for the creation of hybrid aerial vehicles that may be the way of the future. Air taxis can be put to use in urban environments to reduce congestion on the ground, but they can also be a benefit in rural areas to quickly get people from one place to another.

Are Flying Cars in Your Future?

Although air taxis have been depicted in films like 1997's "The Fifth Element," starring Bruce Willis, you probably won't see flying taxis in your city anytime soon. The technology behind personal air taxis is still in development, and one of the major barriers to overcome is air-traffic control. People in traffic on the ground have a hard enough time navigating on the road. Adding congestion and traffic in the sky is likely to cause even more issues.

Thankfully, engineers and aviation experts are working on solving these problems. Various guidance systems can be combined with intelligent technologies to let air taxis communicate with other aerial vehicles as well as ground control. These systems not only help air traffic navigate efficiently, but they also keep vehicles and passengers safe in the air.

The Tech Behind the Taxi

Air taxis often take advantage of VTOL technology as well. This stands for "vertical take-off and landing", and VTOL technology lets air taxis and other vehicles take off vertically using an array of rotors that tilts. VTOL technology has been in use in the military for decades, but it is gaining popularity in the commercial aviation space and may become the backbone of air taxi innovation in the future.

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Jeson Clarke is providing info about sustainable aircraft making for air travel faster, smoother and more affordable than ever. You can find his thoughts at passenger plane blog.