Coventry, UK is set to go down in history as the location of the world’s first airport for autonomous delivery drones and electric flying cars. The project, conceived by Urban Air Port, won the British government’s Future Flight Challenge and received a substantial grant of £1.2 million to make their vision a reality.
The Air-One transport hub will launch later this year and promises to be a zero-emission airport as part of a global initiative to revolutionize urban transport. The vision is for electric aircraft to be able to land and recharge at the site. The company chose Coventry because of its central location as well as its history as a hub for the aerospace and automotive industries.
Coventry City Council and Hyundai Motor Group support the project, with the latter already developing commercialized flying vehicles which they project will be ready in just under a decade from now.
This first site will be used primarily to educate the public on the new, clean technology, but eventually, it will help transport cargo and people across cities. Coventry University will host live demonstrations of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, while UK-based drone developer Malloy Aeronautics will demonstrate the use of large cargo drones.
Urban Air Port’s Coventry location is to be the first of many as the company hopes to install over 200 similar sites across the globe by 2025. Although the technology is very advanced, these compact airports are surprisingly easy to take down and reassemble, making them ideal for relief in the event of natural disasters or emergencies.
The main objective of this pilot air transport project is to cut air pollution, reduce congestion, and ultimately, promote a zero-carbon future.
