Get the latest tech news

The Paris Olympics Promised Flying Taxis—Here’s Why They Failed to Launch


Futuristic plans for tourists to fly over Paris stalled as critics derided flying taxis as an "absurd" invention, that will "only benefit a few ultra rich people."

“[We’re] making people aware that this is not science fiction,” he told WIRED in February, touting the flying taxi as a sustainable, safe and quiet mode of transport that would become normal in just a few years. After being rejected for a state loan, the company was facing the prospect of insolvency “in the foreseeable future,” if its shareholders would not agree to more financing, he told newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. “A lot of the initial use cases will be first and business class passengers connecting with flights,” Michael Cervenka, chief technology officer of UK-based flying taxi company Vertical Aerospace, said earlier this year.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Wired

Read more on:

Photo of flying taxis

flying taxis

Photo of Paris

Paris

Photo of Paris Olympics

Paris Olympics

Related news:

News photo

Paris court explains why it’s arrested Telegram founder, Pavel Durov

News photo

Paris Olympics Average 30.6 Million Viewers, 82% Bump From Tokyo

News photo

Russian Disinformation Networks Target Paris Olympics, Including Boxer Khelif