Passenger transport drones are exhibited at the Paris Air Show

Passenger transport drones have been a hot topic at the last Salon de Le Bourget in Paris in 2023. Several companies exhibited their latest models, which promise to revolutionize urban transport.

One of the most striking drones was the Klein Vision AirCar. This two-seater drone can take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, but it can also fly like a plane. It reaches a top speed of 190 mph and a range of 600 miles.

Another interesting drone was the Volocopter 2X from Volocopter. This four seater drone has a top speed of 60 mph and a range of 27 miles. It is designed for short-haul flights, such as commuting between city centers, or trips from the city center to an airport.

EHang's EHang 216 is another four-seat drone designed for short-haul flights. It has a top speed of 63 mph and a range of 130 miles.

There are many models and some, like the Volocopter, carried out exhibition and test flights.

All these drones are still in the development stage, but they have the potential to revolutionize urban transport. They could provide a faster, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly way of getting around cities.

In addition to these passenger transport drones, other drone-related technologies were also on display at the Paris Air Show. These included:

Drone Delivery Systems: Several companies exhibited their latest drone delivery systems. These systems could be used to deliver food, packages, and other goods to people in urban areas.

Drone-based traffic management systems: These systems could be used to manage drone traffic in urban areas. They could help prevent collisions and ensure drones fly safely.

Drone-based security systems: These systems could be used to patrol urban areas and keep them safe. They could be used to detect and deter crime, and they could also be used to respond to emergencies.

And of course many military drones that can attack from several kilometers away without putting the life of any pilot at risk. And after what was seen in the recent war in Ukraine, its popularity has only increased.

In short, the last Paris Air Show was a showcase for the latest drone technologies, in addition to the presentation of aircraft models as always. But the star of the Show were undoubtedly the passenger transport drones that are still in the early stages of their development, but have the potential to revolutionize urban transport.

There are a number of challenges that need to be addressed before passenger transport drones can become a reality. These challenges include:

Security: Drones must be certified as safe for the transport of passengers. This will require extensive testing and regulation.

Regulation: Governments must develop regulations for passenger transport drones. These regulations will need to address issues such as airspace management, safety and liability.

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Infrastructure: New infrastructure will need to be built to support passenger transport drones. This includes landing pads, charging stations, and air traffic control systems.

Despite these challenges, there is a lot of optimism about the future of passenger transport drones. Technology is advancing rapidly and there is a growing demand for this type of transport. We'll likely to see passenger-carrying drones come to fruition in a few years, but not in the near future.

Because all this cannot make us lose the perspective that passenger transport drones are still several years away from seeing them taking to the skies, and especially for security reasons.

Air transport is very safe today, and it should continue to be so. For a device to transport a person through the air, it must meet very strict aviation safety requirements, and drone manufacturers are still far from meeting the requirements applied in aeronautics.

It is one thing to flight test a device, but quite another to transport people through the air safely and reliably. And it is more than possible that it will be 10 or 20 years before we see drones transporting people over cities, but that day will come and it remains to be seen which drone manufacturer is able to put up with the economic effort necessary to reach it.

According to Morgan Stanley estimates, the market for these drones will be 1 trillion in the year 2040 and 9 trillion in the year 2050, and that "real" sales will occur from the year 2035, mainly due to the difficulties of certification of the devices, both in Europe and in the USA.

In other words, we have more than 10 years left to see news of passenger transport drones, but it will be about that, news and tests. The reality of the market will still take some time to arrive.