An artistic impression of the Bartini flying car. file photo | nmg
Nairobi has been identified as one of the launch cities for an
ambitious flying cars plan. The
McFly.aero blockchain project is starting the set up of infrastructure for air taxis service in 23 cities in 13 countries, including Nairobi.
McFly.aero blockchain project is starting the set up of infrastructure for air taxis service in 23 cities in 13 countries, including Nairobi.
It is a two-part
business incubator, the first spanning a technological consortium of 12
companies that is developing the elements of the city air taxis, across
the flying cars with Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOLs), energy and
traffic management infrastructure.
The second part
involves building local communities called McFly Chapters, aiming at
community engagement that gets people to share information on the
project, getting industry experts to share research and entrepreneurs to
establish local connections with manufacturers, with real estate
partners for landing pads, and even with government bodies for
registration.
It is expected the project will open new
business for entrepreneurs, engineering and drone experts, and
manufacturers of hardware and software for the blockchain-powered IOT
for the urban air taxi infrastructure.
McFly’s lead community manager Nikolay Bezhko said that VTOLs will be driven by auto-pilot to improve safety.
“The
VTOL autonomy will be implemented over time as users and regulators
become more comfortable with the technology and see statistical proof
that autonomy provides greater levels of safety than human pilots,” he
said.
The idea is that passengers will be picked up at
the nearest helipad or heliport to their pick-up point and dropped at
the nearest pad to their destination, and will take a 5-10-minute walk
at either end.
Unlike helicopters, the cars will be efficient in fuel use, noise and safety, said Bezhko.
He
said the initial production cost will be $120,000 (Sh12m) per vehicle,
but will come down to $30,000 (Sh3m) to $40,000 (Sh4m) once they go into
mass production.
As far as fares go, the rides have
an indicative price of $8 (Sh800) per minute, but pricing will be based
on the grid’s load, and transactions will be made in McFly tokens on the
blockchain.
The use of blockchain comes as the ICT
Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has set up an 11-member taskforce headed
by former Information principal secretary Bitange Ndemo to explore the
use of distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence for
development in Kenya.
Other
countries that have been targeted for the McFly launches are the US
(Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh), France (Paris), Ukraine (Kiev,
Dnepr, Znamenovka), Belarus (Minsk, Vitebsk), Russia (Moscow, Tarusa),
India (Srikakulam, Surat), Australia, Japan, Nigeria, Panama, Spain,
Mexico, Indonesia, and Nepal.
For traffic control, one
of the consortium members is working on a traffic management system that
will use city airspaces for up to 1,000 metres above ground, which is
the maximum flying height for the VTOLs.
Before any
VTOL operates, they will need to meet all the registration requirements
for the relevant authorities in each city of operation.
Two-
of four-seaters, the vehicles will either be on autopilot or have the
passenger pointing directions, Bezhko said, adding, so far, there are
two designs: Bartini, flying at 300km/h and Hepard, which flies at 150
km/h. Both designs have a flight time of 30 minutes, he said.
The
market for air taxi services is projected to reach $1.2 trillion per
annum in the next few years, with more than 20 companies, including
Daimler Ventures, Boeing, Geely/Volvo, Tencent and Atomico Ventures, now
working on VTOLs.
They will be electric or hydrogen powered and manufacturers will have the first test flights between March and May 2018.
- African Laughter
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