VUE

You know a company's onto something when their greatest innovation might not be the all-electric multicopter they're building. e larger ecosystem they hope to foster could change how humans move throughout cities and usher in a new era of air travel. By incorporating Volo-hubs and Volo-ports into megacities, Volocopter plans on introducing the first-ever air taxi service. e service will make the product available to anyone and work like an Uber of the skies. e company believes that this air taxi service could provide mobility for up to 10,000 passengers a day with the current infrastructure. With new hubs and ports placed in the next 10 years, they hope to up that number to 100,000 people per hour. Volo-hubs operate similarly to how a gondola on a ski hill might. Volocopters power down outside the hub, where a moving walkway transfers the machine indoors. Passengers then exit safely, both inside and without wind interference— something modern helicopters have yet to solve. e hub will then swap out battery packs before delivering the Volocopter to the next guest embarking to their chosen destination. Because the Volocopter is so compact, these hubs can store enough copters to potentially service a customer every 30 seconds. Coupled with existing helicopter pads, Volocopters can easily integrate into a city without requiring major overhauls. V U E N J . C O M 136

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