Get Ready to Soar: Taxi Drones Will Take You to New Heights Soon!

Years ago, the idea of taxidrones flying people around seemed like something straight out of science fiction. But now, it's becoming a reality - and it's set to revolutionize the way we travel. By 2024, piloted taxidrones will be soaring through the skies during the Olympic Games. And just a year later, they'll be taking passengers between Kobe and Osaka in Japan for the World Expo. But that's just the beginning - by 2030, we could see pilotless taxidrones taking to the skies in Japan, with Europe following closely behind by 2035.

Today it's becoming a reality in Silicon Valley - and it's set to revolutionize the way we travel.

And it's not just taxidrones that are set to change the way we get around - the European Commission has big plans for drones in general. They want to be able to transport people between cities using autonomous drones by 2035. That might sound like a lofty goal, but some companies in Silicon Valley are already well on their way to making it a reality. Wisk, a California-based aviation manufacturer, has already conducted over 2.000 test flights of their autonomous drone technology in collaboration with Boeing. In fact, their aircraft is already capable of carrying up to four passengers for up to 145 kilometers.

Of course, there are still some challenges to overcome before we can fully embrace the potential of unmanned drones. But there are already some exciting developments happening in Silicon Valley. With Living Tomorrow we had our innovation mission there. 25 CEO's of Belgian companies joined our mission. We visited companies like Wisk (above) and Archer, who are leading the charge in the development of VTOL drones (vertical takeoff and landing). They also visited the NASA UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) control center for city drones and talked to companies like Boeing and Airbus about their efforts to make unmanned electric passenger drones a reality.

But it's not just passenger drones that are set to change the game - parcel delivery is also on the cusp of a revolution. Companies like Wing (formerly a part of Google X) are already using unmanned drones to deliver parcels - they've completed over a million flights that take just 10 minutes from warehouse to your doorstep. And Amazon is also getting in on the action.

It's clear that the world is changing fast, and Europe needs to keep up. While some nations are pushing ahead with innovation and embracing new technologies, others are dragging their feet (referring to Germany that now wants to extend the combustion engine to protect "Das Auto" while China and US are taking the lead in EV / battery development. A shame!). But it's important to stay ahead of the curve and keep pushing for progress. Innovation is about taking risks and daring to fail - and that's something we can all still learn from Silicon Valley. So let's step up our game and embrace the future of unmanned drones - it's time to take flight!

Our next innovation mission 2023 (November) goes to Tel Aviv. Interested to join and discover what's next in smart cities, healthcare, water tech, AI and more ? send me a pm.