You're now one step closer to hailing a ride in a flying taxi. German startup Lilium has carried out a series of successful test flights, putting its automated, all-electric aircraft through its aerial paces.
So far the full-sized vehicle has only been shown taking off vertically, hovering and then landing, but Lilium hopes that eventually it will be able to whisk passengers to their destinations at up to 186mph, with a range of 186 miles on a single charge.
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The craft takes off in a similar way to a helicopter, but it works very differently, with 36 engines built into four tilting wings, giving it a weirdly serrated appearance when seen from above.
It's also much quieter than a chopper, thanks to a ducted engine design that dissipates noise and minimizes vibration. No shouting to be heard over noisy rotors while you're soaring from point A to point B.
An uplifting experience
The 36 engines also mean that there's plenty of redundancy if one happens to fail, and there's a triple-redundant flight control too, and the jet is being built to standards set by the European Aviation Safety Agency, and the US Federal Aviation Authority.
You can check out the full-sized craft's test flight below (and judge for yourself whether you'd be willing to give it a shot instead of an Uber).
Source: The Verge
