Will you be flying to the Old Peter in Munich by air taxi in the future? In any case, under the leadership of Airbus, companies, universities and the city of Ingolstadt want to join forces to form the Air Mobility Initiative in order to promote the development of electric air transport.
(Photo: Airbus Helicopters (simulation))
The Room of Big Plans spreads the appropriate start-up spirit. The guests sit on couches or lounge on a kind of pedestal, while futuristic vehicles pass by on the screen and out into the world via live stream. There is talk of a new mobility this Wednesday morning; of drones and air taxis that move autonomously through the Bavarian skies, only to later possibly revolutionize transport worldwide. Under the leadership of Airbus, companies, universities and the city of Ingolstadt want to join forces to form the Air Mobility Initiative in order to advance the development of electric air transport – with Ingolstadt as a hub for new concepts.
In order to explain these big plans, those responsible traveled to the Munich Airbus office. The new initiative with the abbreviation AMI lists around 30 partners, including Deutsche Bahn, the Red Cross, the Technical University of Munich and Telekom. The Free State is funding the project with 17 million euros, the federal government with 24 million. This makes it the largest initiative in this area in Europe, says AMI boss Andreas Thellmann.
The goal has already been defined: In the end, a transport system should be created from which everyone can benefit, says Markus May, head of the Airbus Air Mobility division. To do this, you have to “network many different actors”. So be successful together – instead of being alone, it may be too late. Because the competition is big. According to industry estimates, almost 100 companies worldwide were working on manned transport drones before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. In Bavaria, besides Airbus, Lilium from the Munich area is known for air taxis. A Chinese start-up, Auto-Flight, has also recently become involved in this country.
The way to the goal is more abstract. “In a first step, the AMI partners will address the technological, infrastructural, legal and social requirements for future urban air traffic,” says an Airbus statement. Perhaps the initiative is better understood as a development alliance anyway: as an alliance that wants to create something tangible where theory has previously prevailed. Apart from prototypes, the air taxi industry has little to show for it. And from the political side there are no guidelines for the new vehicles and the infrastructure that they would bring with them, from charging the batteries to suitable take-off and landing sites, the vertiports. “We all still have to work on that,” says Ralf Gaffal from Munich Airport, also an AMI partner.
The electrically powered aircraft such as this new CityAirbus flying taxi are still prototypes. Exact specifications from the approval authorities are still pending.
(Photo: Armin Weigel/dpa)
The plans can perhaps be made most concretely in Ingolstadt. The prototypes manufactured by Airbus in Donauwörth take off south of the city, at Manching Airport. So far, the region has lived primarily from and with Audi, the car manufacturer has long been a reliable job guarantor. When a digital start-up center was launched in Ingolstadt a few years ago, it was supposed to develop into a center for new mobility applications of all kinds. In the meantime, however, the focus there is clearly on aviation. “We are concerned with the jobs of the future,” explains Ingolstadt’s economics officer Georg Rosenfeld the commitment to the new initiative. In view of the transformation in car manufacturing, one has to think about “what strengths we still have in the region”.
The initiative itself is supra-regional: the Frankfurt-based company Droniq is contributing ideas on air traffic control, while the University of Stuttgart is to help develop a new aircraft. One is represented as a model in the room on Wednesday. The City-Airbus Next Generation is reminiscent of a mixture of helicopter and high-flyer. Eight rotors are designed to accelerate four passengers to 120 kilometers per hour. Airbus specifies the range of the battery vehicle as 80 kilometers, including headwind. In 2023 it should take off publicly for the first time, and certification will begin a year later. “In the beginning we will fly piloted,” says May. In the long term, autonomous operation is planned.
Nobody can predict on Wednesday when the big plans will lead to commercial breakthroughs; maybe the air taxis will be flying around the country in ten years, maybe in 20. Either way, there’s still time for the initiative to convince people. The question of noise, for example, is likely to be challenging, i.e. what passenger drones in the sky are allowed to do to the ears on the ground, which are already often exposed to sound. But now, according to Rosenfeld, it’s all about one thing: getting things onto the road, “as you would say in car manufacturing.”