For the Urban Air Mobility Carcopter drone taxi has been recently presented, with patent pending by the two Italian designers Zona Engineering and TopView. The companies have devised it to move comfortably in the city traffic and to be easily parked: its sizes slightly exceeding 4 metres can in fact be compared to a family car.
The technological and commercial prospects of these innovative electric crafts, which soon will be used in our cities, are very interesting: unlike other solutions for UAM, Carcopter is a hybrid vehicle. It can, in fact, travel urban roads, thanks to an integrated endothermic motor, and fly by means of 6 electric rotors powered by batteries.
The endothermic motor recharges the batteries of rotors while travelling on roads and is deactivated at the take-off time.
In the future, air taxis will need dedicated spaces in cities for safe take-off and landing. By using Carcopter, users will easily reach the take-off area on road like a standard vehicle. Once converted into craft, Carcopter can host 3 passengers, included the pilot.
The concept, detailed in each of its mechanical and electric parts, is now ready for the prototyping phase.
