A air taxi without passengers he flew over the city of Jerusalem, in Israel, as part of an experiment aimed at developing a network of drones to alleviate traffic congestion in the future and transport up to two people per trip from one place to another, in an advance of technology that could change the course of the transport of products and passengers.
The ship, manufactured by a chinese companytook off from the hospital heliport Hadassahin the west of Jerusalemfor a test flight of a few minutes, without any passengers on board.
Israel began using an air taxi system with a drone network
“What you see here is an air taxi that in the future will be able to transport people from one place to another”he claimed Daniella Partemdirector of the Israel Innovation Authority, the news agency reported AFP.
This autonomous vehicle that runs on electricity, has a cabin for two passengers and can fly up to 35 kilometers, according to the experiment coordinators, including the Israel Ministry of Transportation and private drone operators.
“This will allow several companies to have drones in flight in the same area and at the same time, and have dispatches for medical use and food deliveries simultaneously,” he added. Partem at a press conference.
The official highlighted that the accident rate recorded since the beginning of the tests is less than “one for every 2,000 flights.”
Israel is one of the pioneering countries in the development of drones, which uses military purposes to monitor Palestinian areas of West Bank and Gaza Stripand some of its neighboring Arab countries.
Since 2019 the Israel National Drone Initiative (INDI) with the aim of building air taxis to transport passengers and cargo that can alleviate traffic problems on their routes, while tests are being carried out to transport blood samples.
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Israel, reference in drone flights
Israel It has already carried out more than 20,000 experimental flights of unpiloted ships of different sizes and is proud to be an international reference in this field.
The national drone plan foresees an investment of 60 million Israeli shekels (US$16 million) in the next two years for the development of drone flights for civil use.
For Libby Bahatdirector of the air infrastructure department of the Israel Civil Aviation Authority, “the main challenge is safety” and that roads, buildings and railways must be incorporated into the parameters.
On the other hand, Bahat He states that it is difficult to estimate the exact price of this service, but noted that it will continue to be “expensive” so that in the near future it will be used to deliver “a plate of sushi for $5.”
This is not the only experiment of a taxi-drone and several countries have carried out test flights, for example France for the 2024 Olympics.
Source: Ambito
