Bavarian firm to develop 5-seat ‘flying taxi’

FRANKFURT: A Bavarian start-up is developing a five-seat “flying taxi” after successful test flights over Germany of a smaller version of the electric jet, the company said on Thursday.

Munich-based Lilium, backed by investors, including Skype cofounder Niklas Zennstrom, said the planned five-seater jet, which would be capable of vertical takeoff and landing, could be used for urban air taxi and ride-sharing services.

In flight tests, a two-seat prototype executed manoeuvres that included a mid-air transition from hover mode, like a drone, to wing-borne flight — like a conventional aircraft, Lilium said.

Potential competitors to Lilium Jet include much bigger players such as Airbus, the maker of commercial airliners and helicopters that aims to test a prototype self-piloted, single-seat “flying car” later in 2017.

Slovakian firm AeroMobil said at a car show in Monaco on Thursday that it would start taking pre-orders for a hybrid flying car that could drive on roads.

It said it planned production from 2020.

But makers of “flying cars” still face hurdles, including convincing regulators and the public that their products can be used safely.

Governments are still grappling with regulations for drones and driverless cars.

Lilium said its jet, with a range of 300km and cruising speed of 300km per hour, was the only electric aircraft capable of both vertical take-off and jet-powered flight.

“We have solved some of the toughest engineering challenges in aviation to get to this point,” Lilium Co-founder and Chief Executive Daniel Wiegand said.

The jet, which power consumption per km was comparable to an electric car, could offer passenger flights at prices comparable to normal taxis but with speeds five times faster, Lilium said.

Lilium, founded in 2014 by four graduates from the Technical University of Munich, is unusual on the German start-up scene, which is dominated by ecommerce