VW Is Bullish on Electric Air Taxis for VIPs

• VW has revealed a working concept of an electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) craft, developed in China, with a planned range of up to 124 miles.

• The automaker sees electric craft of this type serving as VIP air taxis in China's larger cities, bypassing traffic in minutes.

• The eVTOL startup world has noticeably lost some of the momentum gained in the second half of the past decade, as projected demand for air taxis has cooled.

Quite a few startups and automakers alike had promised us flying cars during the giddy VTOL tech boom of the 2010s. By the middle of the decade there were almost as many different concepts as major airlines, each with a different number of propellers and passengers. It wasn't long before barely solvent ride-hailing apps were cutting slick ads showing us our gleaming air-taxi future, with a rooftop pickup just a few clicks away on your phone.

Rosy promises about the latest rounds of funding had noticeably dried up in the pandemic era that, incidentally, put the entire concept of commuting in dense cities into question, albeit briefly. Suddenly, the busy world of the future did not need maximum efficiency to save time by getting into what amounted to a giant drone—the future now seems to be more about serene travel in your autonomous, electric car.

Or is it?

Volkswagen is among those industrial giants that still see a future in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) craft. A few days ago the automaker unveiled its first passenger V.MO drone prototype, nicknamed Flying Tiger.

The craft, shaped vaguely like a catamaran with a passenger compartment suspended below the structure and a length of 36.7 feet, uses eight exposed rotors along its top portion to remain aloft, with an additional two for horizontal flight in a pusher configuration.

VW says in production form, the craft will be able to carry four passengers and their luggage over a distance of up to 124 miles, or 200 kilometers.