Air taxis – the high-flyers of the Shanghai auto show

By
Frank Sieren

The most innovative vehicle at Auto Shanghai is not a car in the traditional sense but an autonomous air taxi powered by battery-operated rotors. It will be presented at the stand of Geely, one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, which owns Volvo and is the largest single investor in Daimler. The air taxi is a German hidden champion and comes from the company Volocopter from Bruchsal. Led by Geely, Volocopter raised €50 million in a 2019 funding round, giving Geely about a ten percent stake in the German company. Daimler joined Volocopter in a previous round. Geely and Volocopter are working on an “Urban Air Mobility Concept”. “Geely is transforming from an automaker into a mobility technology company,” said Geely founder Li Shufu, “Our joint venture with Volocopter underscores our confidence in air taxis as the next big challenge of battery-powered mobility concepts.”