A startup in the United States, Joeby Aircraft Manufacturing Co., is closer to creating a true "taxi" flight. The California-based company is building a purely electric "taxi" capable of vertical takeoff and has received a total of $ 100 million from investment teams led by Toyota and Intel.
The money will go to R & D's flying taxi, which can reach 321 kilometers an hour and is completely powered by nickel-cobalt-cobalt-manganese batteries. The Joby S2 prototype has 16 electric propellers, 12 of which are designed for vertical take-off and landing, meaning that it requires no runway at all for its rise and fall.
The aircraft can rise and fall like a helicopter and once folded it will fold 12 propellers so it can glide in the sky like an airplane. Allegedly, the latest prototype of QiaoBi aircraft manufacturing company can reach twice the speed of the helicopter, once its propeller folded, its fuselage will become an aerodynamically bullet shape.
According to Bloomberg, this powered taxi powered by electric engine and sophisticated control software is like a combination of a drone and a miniature aircraft, which emits about the same noise as a group of super bees. The Joby S2 prototype looks like it was tailored to agent James Bond, but the purpose of this private jet is to change the way we go on vacation, work and go out to do business.
Joe Ben Bevirt, CEO and co-founder of QiaoBi Aircraft Manufacturing, said in an interview in 2015: "If we can build a quiet, safe and efficient aircraft, you can do it five times faster than ground transportation Travel, it will fundamentally change people's lives, but it will have a deformed effect. "