When one thinks of a flying taxi, one usually pictures scenes from sci-fi movies such as The Fifth Element and Blade Runner. Yet in megacities across the world projects are underway with the goal of one day bringing drone-taxies into everyday life. Moscow is no exception to this, and Hover, a Skolkovo resident, recently tested its own drone-taxi at Luzhniki olympic sports complex located in the city’s south-west district.
“The tests for this promising unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at Luzhniki took place in the framework of the capital’s program for pilot testing innovations. It gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to test their solutions on suitable city and commercial spaces,” Moscow’s deputy mayor Natalia Sergunina stated.
The deputy mayor also noted that there are similar projects underway in this field in megacities including Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Barcelona.
Hover was created by businessman Alexander Atamanov and the company’s team of engineers have been working on the UAV since 2018. While passenger drones are still prohibited in Moscow, Mr. Atamanov stated that the Moscow government will open a testing space equipped with a 5G network – a necessity for flight within a megacity – in Skolkovo by spring of this year.
The UAV is designed to transport passengers and cargo up to 100km and its 5m by 1.6m dimensions make it comparable to the size of a car. What differentiates Hover’s device from competitors is its maneuverability; it can fly at a height of 150m, can land on a standard parking place, maneuver in a parking lot and in and out of a garage. In other words, it does not require special landing and take-off zones. The drone is designed to carry two passengers with a maximum weight of 300 kilos, has a maximum speed of 200km/h, and instead of propellers it uses electrical ducted fans (EDF). While the main problem of an EDF is its low efficiency, the company has managed to increase it to the level comparable to a traditional propeller by changing the antidrag ring and putting in additional air intake slots. Thanks to the Venturi effect – the increase in air velocity due to a constriction – the efficiency increased. The UAV’s compact design for passengers and cargo, its quiet electronic engines, and its maneuverability makes it ideal for a city environment.
Hover’s engineers tested the drone’s “lift & cruise” system (different engines are responsible for take-off, landing, and horizontal flight) at Luzhniki arena; they also tested its parachute system. The central control system runs on artificial intelligence and is still being improved. The system plots optimal routes, independently controls the vehicle and monitors the safety of the flight; when rising six-ten meters, the prototype captures all indicators and records them for subsequent analysis. While the current tests utilized propellers for take-off, this will no longer be the case by springtime, by which time Hover will already have a non-propeller variant.
Russia’s capital already houses the infrastructure and innovative potential needed to implement similar initiatives, said Alexey Fursin, the head of Moscow’s department of entrepreneurship and innovative development. “In the framework of the Moscow innovation cluster, we are helping Hover’s team of developers and other such projects in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles,” he stated.
The test for the drone-taxi at Luzhniki is one such example of Moscow’s program supporting a technological business in testing of innovative solutions. It is also an example of Skolkovo’s residents being at the forefront of such pilot projects. The goal of the tests is to help ensure the possibility of having active drone-taxies in the city by 2023-2025; the continued work on flight safety will allow for Hover’s drone-taxis to take up this role, making Moscow among the first megacities to have a public air taxi service.
“We gathered a large amount of data that will help us move towards our goal – to bring a transport revolution in the capital closer,” said Mr. Atamanov. “It is very cool that the Moscow government is supporting us in every possible way with this plan. Our main goal is to turn Moscow into a city of the future, where transport will be possible without traffic jams and traffic lights, where time can be saved and better spent. The mass-adoption of drone-taxis as part of the city’s transport infrastructure will be evidence that with technology anything is possible.”
