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0:00
This is a flying car. I’m at a
facility in Spain where this
0:04
electric passenger drone is set to
take off on a test flight in a couple of minutes.
0:08
We’re getting a sneak peek at the
technology.
0:11
From electric cars to
scooters,
0:12
the world is looking for cleaner
and more efficient modes of transportation.
0:16
Most of these efforts are focused on
how we move
0:18
around on the ground. But what
about the future of flying cars
0:21
Technically known as vertical
take-off and landing aircraft or VTOL,
0:26
companies around the world are
racing to develop flying passenger drones.
0:29
The reason? These aircraft could be
big business.
0:32
The urban air mobility market
could be worth $9 trillion in 2050,
0:36
skyrocketing from its tiny beginnings
right now.
0:39
While that is some way off, one
of the companies hoping
0:41
for a big slice of that growing
pie is German contender Lilium.
0:46
This is the fifth generation of
Lilium’s fully electric aircraft.
0:49
The company has been carrying out
test flights at the ATLAS flight test center
0:53
here in the south of Spain as it
looks to hone the technology and prove the safety of the vehicle.
0:57
The current test vehicle is not what
Lilium hopes to finally brings into production in 2023.
1:02
The company says the final jet will
have a cruise speed of 175 miles per hour and a
1:07
range of about 155 miles. That’s
roughly the distance from London to Manchester.
1:12
Matthias Meiner, a co-founder of
Lilium, took me through the technology behind the
1:16
jet and the company’s vision of
a premium user experience.
1:19
You step inside the cabin, it feels
very, like high quality, you don't have that feeling that
you
1:24
might have today in a helicopter
shuttle service where everything's loud and rattling and noisy.
1:28
So it's really from that kind
of business jet experience.
1:31
But bringing that eventually to
the to the wider audience
1:34
While the technology appears to
be progressing quickly,
1:36
what exactly is the business
potential for companies like Lilium?
1:40
I caught up with Alexander
Asseily, vice chairman of Lilium.
1:43
The potential for EVTOL is really to
rethink how regions connect internally and with other regions.
1:51
So today, if you want to move
over regional distances, what do you do?
1:55
Taking a long car journey, taking a
train,
1:58
were you taking a short flight from
New York to Boston, London to Paris or something.
2:00
And the way to tell is that
essentially takes some of those long car journeys.
2:05
And it says, "Wait, why
spend
2:06
two - three hours in a car you when
you can do it in less than 45 minutes in an eVTOL?"
2:11
And from a business perspective,
2:13
now, what's the potential? How
are you thinking about business models
2:16
So we have to think about it in two
ways. One is we've got certain kinds of customers like NetJets,
2:21
for example, or Lux aviation,
who want to buy aircraft from us,
2:24
and then operate those aircraft
within whatever model they use,
2:28
like either fractional
ownership or shuttle routes, right.
2:31
There's also a ton of
opportunity we're seeing which we've announced
2:35
in Europe, also in the US and
Florida, which is to run our own routes with partners.
2:40
Passenger-carrying drones still face
a number of challenges, from the development of
2:45
infrastructure such as landing pads
and charging stations to safety concerns from regulators.
2:50
If the industry is to truly take off,
then there are some big issues still to address.
2:54
The real challenge is really
understanding what
2:56
the technology is and how it's
going to function in the field.
2:58
We think the aerospace industry is
awfully mature and has very strict standards for good reasons.
3:03
But this is going to be a technology
that starts to test the edges of those regulations.
3:08
It’s not just Lilium vying to
make flying cars a reality.
3:11
A handful of companies across
the world from EHang in China
3:14
to Joby Aviation in the U.S.
are hoping to fly ahead.
3:18
We're in a great spot to kind of
move forward towards this, what we call a
3:21
conforming aircraft, a
preproduction prototype. So that's going to happen,
3:24
we're going to start assembling that
in 2023.
3:26
And then it's going to be about
a year and a half of final test
3:29
campaign where essentially we
take a bunch of boxes, and then in 2025
3:33
the plan is we will get all types
certificate and we will launch our commercial operation.
3:38
So, don’t expect to see flying cars
around your city just yet. But with every successful
take-off
3:43
and landing made by prototype
aircraft like this, the future gets just that little bit closer.
3:49
This is going to be a decade long
process of development and growing the market.
3:53
And so really, we're looking at
the middle of the decade when this becomes
3:57
reality for people in a way that they
can see it and feel it and participate in it.
4:01
In terms of mass adoption, we're
really looking out past 2030, for the broad adoption.
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0:00
這是一輛飛行汽車。我在西班牙的一個設施裡
0:04
電動載人無人機將在幾分鐘內進行試飛。
0:08
我們正在偷窺這項技術。
0:11
從電動汽車到踏板車，
0:12
世界正在尋找更清潔、更高效的交通方式。
0:16
大多數這些努力都集中在我們如何移動
0:18
在地面周圍。但是飛行汽車的未來呢？
0:21
技術上稱為垂直起降飛機或VTOL，
0:26
世界各地的公司都在競相開發飛行載人無人機。
0:29
原因？這些飛機可能是一筆大生意。
0:32
到 2050 年，城市空中交通市場可能價值 9
萬億美元，
0:36
從現在的微小開始飆升。
0:39
雖然還有一段路要走，但其中一家公司希望
0:41
對於這個不斷增長的餡餅的很大一部分是德國的競爭者百合。
0:46
這是 Lilium 的第五代全電動飛機。
0:49
公司一直在ATLAS試飛中心進行試飛
0:53
在西班牙南部，它希望磨練技術並證明車輛的安全性。
0:57
目前的測試車輛並不是
Lilium 希望在
2023 年最終投入生產的車輛。
1:02
該公司表示，最後一架噴氣式飛機的巡航速度為每小時
175 英里，
1:07
射程約
155 英里。這大約是從倫敦到曼徹斯特的距離。
1:12
Lilium 的聯合創始人 Matthias Meiner 帶我了解了
1:16
jet 和公司對優質用戶體驗的願景。
1:19
走進機艙，感覺很高級，沒有那種感覺
1:24
今天可能有直升機穿梭服務，那裡的一切都很嘈雜，嘎嘎作響。
1:28
所以它真的來自那種公務機體驗。
1:31
但最終將其帶給更廣泛的受眾
1:34
雖然這項技術似乎正在迅速發展，
1:36
像 Lilium 這樣的公司的商業潛力究竟是什麼？
1:40
我採訪了 Lilium 的副主席 Alexander Asseily。
1:43
EVTOL 的潛力在於重新思考區域內部以及與其他區域的連接方式。
1:51
所以今天，如果你想跨越區域距離，你會怎麼做？
1:55
坐長途汽車，坐火車，
1:58
你是乘坐短途航班從紐約到波士頓，倫敦到巴黎還是什麼的。
2:00
判斷的方法是，這基本上需要一些長途汽車旅行。
2:05
它說，“等等，為什麼要花
2:06
在汽車上兩到三個小時，你在
eVTOL 上不到
45 分鐘就能做到嗎？”
2:11
而從商業角度來看，
2:13
現在，潛力是什麼？您如何看待商業模式
2:16
所以我們必須從兩個方面考慮。一是我們有某些類型的客戶，比如
NetJets，
2:21
例如，想從我們這裡購買飛機的力士航空，
2:24
然後以他們使用的任何型號操作這些飛機，
2:28
就像部分所有權或穿梭路線一樣，對。
2:31
我們還看到了很多我們已經宣布的機會
2:35
在歐洲，也在美國和佛羅里達州，這是與合作夥伴一起經營我們自己的路線。
2:40
載人無人機仍面臨諸多挑戰，從
2:45
著陸場和充電站等基礎設施，以應對監管機構的安全問題。
2:50
如果該行業要真正起飛，那麼仍有一些大問題需要解決。
2:54
真正的挑戰是真正理解什麼
2:56
技術是什麼以及它將如何在該領域發揮作用。
2:58
我們認為航空航天業非常成熟，並且有非常嚴格的標準，這是有充分理由的。
3:03
但這將是一項開始測試這些法規邊緣的技術。
3:08
讓飛行汽車成為現實的不僅僅是
Lilium。
3:11
億航在中國的全球少數公司
3:14
到美國的
Joby Aviation 都希望能飛得更遠。
3:18
我們正處於一個朝著這個方向前進的好地方，我們稱之為
3:21
符合要求的飛機，預生產原型。所以這會發生，
3:24
我們將在
2023 年開始組裝它。
3:26
然後大約一年半的期末考試
3:29
基本上我們拿一堆盒子的活動，然後在
2025 年
3:33
計劃是我們將獲得所有類型的證書，我們將啟動我們的商業運營。
3:38
所以，不要指望在你的城市周圍看到飛行汽車。但隨著每一次成功的起飛
3:43
和像這樣的原型飛機著陸，未來就那麼近了一點。
3:49
這將是一個長達十年的發展和擴大市場的過程。
3:53
所以真的，我們正在看這個十年的中期，當這成為
3:57
以人們可以看到、感受到並參與其中的方式呈現現實。
4:01
在大規模採用方面，我們真的期待
2030 年之後的廣泛採用。
英語
全部來自
CNBC 國際
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