Six months before the Olympics opening ceremony, Dirk Hoke, Volocopter’s chief executive, was still hopeful. “We’re making people aware that this is not science fiction,” he told WIRED in February, touting the flying taxi as a sustainable, safe, and quiet mode of transport that would become the norm in just a few years. “It works, and it starts this year.”
Flights on Volocopter’s VoloCity model would be free, and three routes around Paris were initially planned. Even when those plans were made public, Hoke had not yet flown in one of his own vehicles. “I would love to,” he said, “but so far, according to regulations, only test pilots are allowed.” Still, his tone was optimistic. “We hope to start flying in July and then start with passengers as well, probably in August.”
But just two months later, Hoke began to express his doubts in the German media. Having been refused a state loan, the company faced the prospect of insolvency “in the foreseeable future” if its shareholders did not accept further financing, he said. said Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
At the same time, the project was increasingly under fire, with critics complaining that the VoloCity (which could only carry one passenger at a time) looked more like a private jet than any form of public transport. “We don’t need them,” says Lazarski. She believes that flying taxis would create visual and noise pollution in the skies over Paris, giving nothing in return to its residents. “It’s not mass transport,” she says, claiming that the vehicles would only be used by the most privileged. “They’re for business people.”
Lazarski was not alone in her concerns. Seventeen thousand people have signed a petition request So far, there have been calls for the project to be scrapped and politicians in charge in Paris have also joined the backlash, pitting politicians in the capital against the region and the government in general.
Dan Lert, deputy mayor in charge of the green transition called The VoloCity is an “absurd device” that “will only benefit a few ultra-rich people.” His colleague David Belliard, deputy mayor in charge of mobility, echoed that sentiment. “It’s useless, it’s anti-ecological, it’s very expensive,” he said. saying in July.
Volocopter, however, defended its product as affordable. “We firmly believe that when we get to the hundreds and thousands of these vehicles, we can easily achieve an equivalent price per seat that is just a little bit higher than a taxi on the street,” Hoke said in February.
But other flying taxi executives have acknowledged that getting to that point will take time and that there will first be a period when these vehicles are aimed at the wealthy. “A lot of the initial use cases will be first- and business-class passengers connecting to flights,” said Michael Cervenka, chief technology officer of U.K.-based flying taxi company Vertical Aerospace. saying Earlier this year.
By late July, it became clear that Volocopter’s plans for the Paris Olympics were being scaled back, although the company claimed its immediate financial problems had been resolved. “It’s a technological breakthrough that could be useful,” said Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete. insistedacknowledging that flying taxis might not be able to accommodate passengers in time for the Olympics. Publicly, Volocopter was careful not to attribute the setback to public backlash, instead blaming it blaming an American supplier “unable to deliver what it had promised” and its failure to obtain approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Authority to operate commercially.
Lazarski doesn’t consider the failure of flying taxis a victory. “It’s a relief,” she says. But for her, the battle is not over. She says she is involved in a legal challenge against plans to operate a vertiport on the River Seine, for flying taxis to take off and land from central Paris. That launch pad has already been granted permission. From the government The plane will remain in operation until December. The race for the Olympics may be over, but the dream of flying taxis over Paris is not dead.