Boeing throws its weight behind Larry Page's flying taxi startup

The issue with all those "air mobility" concept is the noise. That they can fly is sure, that they can be safe has to be shown and mostly that they would make far less noise than an helicopter (including an electric one) has to be proven. Without a drastic decrease of noise I do not think they can be very usefull.

If only it were possible to reduce the number of propellors, say down to two: one big one to provide lift and forward motion, and another to maintain directional stability...

I sometimes wonder who and how they make their decisions...??? this thing looks way cluttered and inneficient, I would've like to see them partner with SKAI ! ! !

Any design where extra weight and mass frontal area with all the drag it creates, is a no win for the efficient future. Skai is the only eVTOL that wisely uses hydrogen fuel cells which absolutely are the coming future for any medium to long distance convenience and safety in eVTOL.

Deres: I seem to remember seeing pictures and hearing sound from stealth helicopters, so maybe that could be applied to this vehicle?

So my guess is that this thing costs 10-50 times as much as the cars that people use as conventional taxis. So the target market is passengers who can pay, say, 5-20 times as much for each taxi ride?

Anthony, great comment! Seriously, why are they trying to redesign the helicopter with 84 rotors all over the place rather than the one rotor (or two for coaxial design) used already. These designs are certainly inelegant aren't they.

Flying taxis will make the urban environment exponentially louder, but not to worry, the wealthy will be the ones flying overhead while us peons can just use earplugs.

Exactly ei3io
@Anthony88 Boeing already has that kind of copter, it's just a glorified helicopter, Yes it is fast, but over complicated and bulky not to mention a maintenance hog.
@vanillacat
While i am not in favor of this particular design at all as evident in my post above, something like the Skai or the City Airbus hits the nail on the dot hands down ! ! !
It's not about helicopters vs Multicopter. There is room for both types, they forfill different roles, but since you are trying to compare the two.
First it's about mobility, these things can land in smaller areas than a conventional mammoth blade helicopters (again a helicopter has it's place but a multi cabn forfill a niche which helicopters simply cannot !
Second, with the appropriate use of advance prop designs, mainly aucustically sound reducing trirotor or 4 rotor blades,
These copters are just not as noisy.
A Helicopter produces an insane amount of noise compared to a multicopter ! And they have been flying since... forever !
Thirdly reducing maintenance.
If a multicopter motor fails,( it would by a very rare instance to begin with, same wrt an esc or battery, it would be changeable in under 10 minutes ! ! ! Increasing your up time and Profits ! !
Where as a helicopter have a complicated turbine engine, with a complicated gearbox and linkages, that needs to be vigilantly inspected consistently.
With Multirotors the main thing you will be changing is simply the bearings, how awesome is that ! ! !

Spell check "a multi cabn"
I meant to say a "multi can" ie "a multicopter can"