Researches from the IIT-Kanpur in collaboration with VTOL Aviation India Pvt Ltd, have agreed to a $2.2 Mn Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the prototype of a auto-piloted vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft, which could be used as flying taxi or facilitate air travel.
“We will establish a proof of concept and identify the key technology areas. There will be over 100 students working on this,” said Ajoy Ghosh, Aerospace Engineer and Flight Lab Head of IIT-Kanpur.
The project may be take up to five years to be completed, prompting Ghosh to comment, “The proposed craft will most likely use a ducted fan, much like commercial airplanes. It will be clean as it will use electric power.”
The motivation behind this project for Ghosh is the hope of developing a sustainable and revolutionary way of reducing traffic congestion added to the flexibility of the aircraft to take off and land on different terrains.
Additionally, the IIT-Kanpur is a suitable institution to carry out the project since it is equipped with a high-end technology facility that will allow proper research activities in aerospace thanks to the institute’s wind tunnels and flight labs that are capable of testing aircraft.
The concept of offering a flying taxi is not new anymore since Uber, the cab-aggregator major, is also conducting experiments and developing flying car prototypes in the hope of bringing it to the market by 2023, beginning in Dallas and Log Angeles and eventually rolling it out to the rest of its operations. The US-based giant also signed an agreement with NASA that will drive the research of concepts and development of technologies destined to create urban air mobility (UAM) for air transportation in the future in populated areas.
In Europe, Airbus also initiated a similar project, entitled Vahana, from the Sanskrit word for vehicle. The project completed its first full-scale trial flight in Oregon, US, on January 31, 2018. The fully electric air vehicle successfully flew over a height of fiver meters for 53 seconds. Vahana is designed to carry a single passenger or cargo.