TRANSCRIPT
With its tinted wrap-around windscreen and multiple sky-bound rotors, it looks like a cross between a futuristic helicopter and an oversize drone.
In fact, it's an electric air taxi - called the Valo - freshly unveiled by British company Vertical Aerospace in London.
"So our mission at Vertical Aerospace is to deliver electric vertical take-off and landing to the masses. To provide point to point transportation."
That's Vertical Aerospace's chief engineer David King, laying out the company's ambitious vision behind its impressive prototype.
The Valo is just one version of what's called an Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft - or evTOL.
As the name suggests, and a promotional video shows, it has the ability to take off vertically like a helicopter, but without the noise and pollution.
Those in the industry, like Mr King, believe it could be the taxi of the future.
"One thing is now slower than it was ten years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago, and that's mobility. Mobility in and around populated areas just hasn't kept up. And the solution to that is to unlock the third dimension, it's air mobility, and to be able to provide that to the masses."
The Valo boasts luxury seating for up to six passengers and speeds of 240 kilometres an hour over distances up to 160 kilometres.
Vertical Aerospace test pilot Simon Davies says, it's a breeze to drive.
"Really it is super simple. You push forward on this lever. It makes you go forward. You pull back on the control stick. It makes you go up. And you just point using the tools you've got and looking out the window. And the aircraft works out how to make it all happen for you."
In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority CASA says it expects to see passenger transport services, or air taxis, up and running in urban areas between 2027 and 2029.
Clem Newton-Brown is the CEO of Skyportz, a Melbourne-based company that's developed a patented landing surface for electric air taxis that helps address practical concerns like noise and safety.
He says the era of air taxi travel is on its way, but the complex infrastructure and regulation required is still catching up.
"It's an evolution of the helicopter, which only becomes the revolution that they're talking about when there's a multitude of new landing sites, places such as shopping centers and offices and tourism destinations, things like that. And the problem with that is that landing aircraft in tighter urban locations produces a whole lot of issues around safety and amenity."
There is also scepticism from some about the commercial viability of the air taxi industry.
Richard Aboulafia, from AeroDynamic Advisory, says it's a competitive market with limited funding.
"You know I want to live in a world where I can fly helicopters everywhere. I think most of society would check that box and say: 'Absolutely, get me above that traffic, get me there fast.' Unfortunately, the economics of flying vertically have been about the same for a really long time. And while Vertical has produced an interesting machine, a lot of impressive work going into it, the economics are about the same, maybe a little worse - we don't know - than flying in a helicopter. So it's the same challenges from a business perspective."
Vertical Aerospace, who has already received some 1,500 orders for its new Valo aircraft, is not deterred by the challenges.
Skyportz CEO Clem Newton-Brown says China and the Middle East are moving rapidly on regulating air spaces for the growing industry.
He says while many aircraft will fail to get to market, developers at the forefront will soon make an impact.
"There seems no doubt now that they will come and they will replace helicopters and potentially create a whole new industry around a different type of aviation."
