The collaboration between Airbus and Audi takes a new step at the Berlin Air Show. The aircraft manufacturer and the automaker have announced the signing, Thursday, April 26, a partnership to develop a short-term urban mobility service.
Starting in the summer of 2018, customers of Voom, an Airbus Helicopters helicopter taxi service, will be able to order a full journey from their mobile application. Audi will complete the air routes with a VTC service using the vehicles of the brand.
Voom was incubated in 2016 as a project by the Airbus A3 Technology Innovation Center based in Silicon Valley, California, USA. United States. The first commercial launch took place in São Paulo, at Brazil, in April 2017. On this occasion, Airbus Helicopters recovered the operation and development of the service. Since March, the heli-taxi platform has also been deployed in Mexico City, Mexico.
Airbus on all fronts
En march 2018, Audi joined the development of Pop.Up Next, the flying car project designed by Airbus and Italdesign. It consists of a cockpit that is attached to a car module or a drone according to its use.A first iteration of the project was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2017. The aircraft manufacturer is working in parallel on two other vertical takeoff aircraft projects: Vahana and CityAirbus, whose first test flights are planned for 2018.