US aircraft major Boeing is partnering with the Tamil Nadu government in the development and implementation of a roadmap for the launch of air taxis or ‘flying cars’ in Chennai.
According to sources, the state is keen to develop an urban air mobility ecosystem or air taxis which will enable drone and short haul air transport operators to safely provide urban air transport in the greater Chennai Metropolitan Area. These ‘flying taxis’ will take off vertically and land without the aid of a runway.
Sources said development of urban air mobility (UAM) system in Chennai would be executed in a phased manner. It would start with the development of a roadmap for a fully functional UAM system enabling creation of vertiports, a designated area for vertical takeoff and landing without runway. It would also include a unified traffic management supported by communication, navigation and surveillance systems, capacity management, geo-fencing, a key capability for low-altitude unmanned aircraft system traffic management and zone management.
A Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority source told TNIE that initially the ‘air taxis’ would be used on an experimental basis to cater to logistics.