Last August Howard spoke to the LA Times about flying taxis. Now that Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk program is public it’s even clearer: the technology is there. Anything that’s not will be soon–As Elon Musk said, we’re in a period of double exponential innovation (HW and SW).
Regulation remains the main question. It abound, for good reason, in air travel. Uber was able to achieve critical mass by “sneaking up” on legislators and pulling an end-around: initially User allowed you to hail already licensed black cars. Many cities protected cabs by prohibiting street-side hails for limos. Uber just connected excess supply and demand with accessible pricing and better ease-of-use than traditional systems.
Kitty Hawks made two choices to addresses the regulation issue:
choosing the easy to certify ultralight category (which also exponentially expands the addressable market)
starting in New Zealand, a country that understands the dual benefits of being the center of ecosystem for such disruptive technology and having a game changer to overcome the constraints of road-based travel
This is first footage, from last year, of the new ultra-light vehicles. This recent Mashable article describes the more advanced flying taxi vehicles and service, and how New Zealand sees the service as a poster child for their desire to be an innovation hub.
When we posted on Jetson’s Jets two years ago, personal aircraft seemed far fetched. Not anymore!!