‘Flying taxis’ being developed in East Midlands

This story is over

An East Midlands firm has designed a prototype system for vertical take-off, which could see us with ‘flying taxis’ by 2020.

Derby-based Rolls-Royce has designed a system which could see an ‘electric vertical take-off and landing’ (EVTOL) vehicle carry up to five people.

The new system uses gas turbine technology to propel the vehicle.

It would be able to travel at speeds of up to 250mph for around 500 miles with minimal noise and without the need for recharging.

This new development was unveiled Farnborough Airshow, and a spokesperson for the firm said Rolls-Royce is actively exploring ‘a range of possible markets and applications for electric and hybrid electric flight’.

This comes after the engineering firm announced last month that it plans to make over 4,000 redundancies over the next two years in a bid to save £400 million.

Rolls-Royce bosses have said these cuts will lead to a ‘simpler, leaner and more agile organisation’.