Air taxi trial to take to the skies in 2019
Singapore is set to begin test flights in the second half of the year.
Volocopters could be buzzing through Singapore next year.
The skies of Singapore are set to buzz with their first air taxis in 2019, when Volocopter starts its inner-urban flight tests.
The German company's tests, scheduled for the latter half of the year, will assess its EVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) vehicles' suitability for the city.
The drone-like Volocopters can fly two people nearly 19 miles (just short of 30 km) and can't be heard over the usual noise of a city, the company said.
"We are getting ready to start implementing the first fixed routes in cities," Florian Reuter, Volocopter's CEO, said in a statement. "Singapore is a logical partner: The city is a true pioneer in technology and city development."
Volocopter performed a public unmanned test flight in Dubai last fall and numerous others in Germany.
However, it isn't the only company looking take over the urban skies. Uber outlined its plans to get UberAir, its own EVTOL-based transport network, off the ground in as little as two years. Airbus has promised a self-flying electric air taxi by 2020.