Forget taxis: flying to work is the next big thing
But tough regulations are grounding plans in SA, innovators say
Drone technology is advancing so rapidly that airspace regulatory authorities are battling to catch up. The next big thing is "urban air mobility" - a development that combines driverless car, taxi app and drone technologies to deliver a pilotless, flying taxi you can hail by smartphone. At the forefront of facing those challenges is Johannesburg's Jana Rosenmann, head of unmanned aerial systems at Airbus Defence and Space, a new division of Airbus launched in Dallas, Texas, last month. Its headquarters are set to be in Atlanta, Georgia, when it goes operational next year. Speaking to Business Times at Airbus in Toulouse, France, Rosenmann said that although urban air mobility was a little further down the track it still faced the challenge "to convince people to get into an unmanned air vehicle and fly somewhere". Despite this challenge, Airbus was working on a three-tiered, unmanned aerial vehicle remote-sensing project that would integrate conventional commercial drones, high-alt...
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