Air taxis might get the headlines and they might even get the investment dollars because they’re sexy and visual and exciting. But cargo drones solve a massive existing problem — last mile delivery — and they’re far easier to implement.
Only 13 of the 169 companies have actual shipping, orderable product to date. And while $5 billion in investment sounds big, many companies are struggling under tight development budgets because $4.6 billion of that has been raised by just six companies in the U.S. and Europe: Joby Aviation, Lilium, Paragon, Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, and Volocopter.
However, there is a significant amount of innovation. And it’s all part of a global trend away from fluffy consumer technology — internet and apps — and towards deep tech, Shaposhnikov says.Drone explosion: Cargo UP, air taxi DOWN by TechFirst with John Koetsier “Globally, we see that the investment appetite is going towards deep tech companies. It’s not only the drones. So we will also see high growth of the level of interest for quantum technologies, for example, or deep artificial intelligence ... and drones, they solve, let’s say, logistic or urban problems.”Shaposhnikov says we’ll see a large-scale deployment of drones for cargo delivery.
For air taxis, an operational future is at least six to ten years out, according to Shaposhnikov. There are outstanding engineering issues, aerodynamic issues, and safety issues. Batteries are still a problem, and there will need to be a significant amount of testing and regulatory compliance. Plus, we’ll need enhanced air traffic control systems for cities.
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