Volocopter

As part of plans to establish a flying taxi service in the region, and ultimately across the world, Volocopter has joined with ridesharing company Grab on a new feasibility study to uncover high-potential routes between megacities in Southeast Asia.

Having introduced a massive heavy-lift drone at the end of October, Volocopter is now looking to show what the aircraft can do through a new partnership with John Deere, with the two developing a version customized for spraying crops.

Announced today, the Volodrone is cut from the same cloth as Volocopter's electric passenger aircraft that sports 18 rotors and is electric-powered, but sports an attachment system underneath to carry heavy loads of all shapes and sizes.

German company Volocopter has again moved to build up its presence in Singapore, this time by flying its 18-rotor aircraft over the island nation’s Marina Bay, an outing described as its most advanced flight yet.

The Volocopter has been given another makeover, resulting in a rounder, cleaner design the company says is the most powerful Volocopter yet.

​German aviation startup Volocopter is one of the more active players in the nascent flying taxi scene. It is continuing to spread its wings, today announcing plans to set up shop in Singapore and kick off test flights next year.

Flying taxis still seem very much like something pulled right out of science fiction, but when transport heavyweights like Boeing, Airbus and Uber start pumping millions of dollars into their development, it might be time to take all of this a bit more seriously.

​The flight controllers inside Intel's drones are capable of some incredible spectacles, but can they carry passengers across town in an 18-rotor aircraft? That's the end game of the company's partnership with Volocopter, and at CES today it gave glimpse of what such a feat might look like. ​

Dubai has kicked off trials of the Volocopter two-seater aircraft. The all-electric 18-rotor vehicle took to the skies for the first time over the city on Monday as the city looks to establish what would be world's first self-flying taxi service.

At what point do zany flying taxi concepts become feasible urban mobility solutions? Daimler seems to have seen enough of the Volocopter to believe this autonomous flying machine is the real deal.

The pursuit of personal flight took a promising, and kind of wacky, step forward today with the electric 18-rotor Volocopter lifting somebody into the air for the very first time.