Team Herald
PANJIM: Secretary (Ministry of Civil Aviation) Rajiv Bansal on Wednesday disclosed that the Government of India is trying to start drone taxis at Bengaluru and Mumbai airports within next four to five years, to begin with.
Bansal, who was in Goa to attend the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) Asia Pacific Conference, said that the drone taxis are basically electric powered vertical take-off and landing devices and this technology is evolving in some parts of Europe and also globally.
“It’s a matter of next four to five years when this technology will actually come into deployment globally and in India. It’s possible that electric powered vertical take-off and landing is getting launched from airports which are far away from cities,” he said.
Bansal said that the trial fordrone taxis, which are urban mobility devices has already taken place and helipads have been created for this purpose.
“We are keen to abreast with the technological development so that this kind of launches happen in India. There will be united air traffic management system and we are trying to emerge as leaders globally in this space and we are working on preparing this united air traffic management guidelines,” he informed.
Bansal also informed that IIT Madras is working on a product to develop these electric flying taxis.
