Tan Chun Wei, the deputy director of transformation programmes at CAAS, explained, "We are going to take off where we land. For the first phase, it's very much experimental. For a start, it is going to be over water, and we are going to work with Volocopter on the safety aspects to ensure that even flying over water, it wouldn't pose a public or even aviation risk. The landing spot will be somewhere in the southern part of Singapore."
With a population of 5.6 million people and a density of over 20,000 people per square mile, Singapore has the compulsive need to innovate within its transportation corridor and has successfully pushed a system that has worked exceedingly well despite the traffic volume.
However, planning for steady population and economic growth, the country is now looking towards the skies as a transit possibility of the future. The Volocopter is an autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft that can be controlled either by a pilot on a joystick or can be remotely controlled from the ground. An essential part of the initial test runs would be to determine which mode would be more relevant to the country's transportation needs.
Though the Volocopter looks like a cross between a helicopter and a drone, the vehicle is essentially a drone because of its computers and mechanics. The initial runs will also help authorities determine if they could pursue different possibilities within the urban mobility niche – for instance, using Volocopters as drones to move freight.
The rise of e-commerce and the subsequent increase in consumer expectations on expedited delivery times has warranted the use of innovative last-mile solutions and warehouse automation, stretching supply chains taut. Potentially, drone delivery systems are the next phase of the last-mile delivery expansion; this system is already being used in mainstream e-commerce delivery across China.
The vehicle's development team has stated that Volocopter rides can turn out to be as affordable as a taxi ride across the city, as the materials and components used in the VTOL vehicle would be inexpensive when manufactured and operated at scale. Like most of the commercial drones in business, the Volocopter is made predominantly of fiber composites – making it lightweight – and has a maximum take-off load of about 1,000 pounds.
"So in the long run, we don't want you to own the Volocopter. We want to use the Volocopter just like you hail a cab ride today. It will be affordable for everyone for particular trips where it makes sense to take an air taxi," said Florian Reuter, the CEO of Volocopter.
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