Self-Driving Taxis To Arrive In Cities By 2021 And Flying Cabs To Start Test Flights in 2017

Car maker Ford has pledged to launch a fleet of autonomous taxis by 2021, while aerospace firm Airbus plans to start testing flying versions next year.

Ford plans to have a ‘high-volume, fully autonomous’ car widely in operation in five years, and will have 30 early models on U.S. roads before the end of this year.

The self-driving Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan cards will take to the roads in California, Ariona and Michigan before the end of 2016.

The auto firm plans to add a further 60 cars to the fleet next year, then bring larger fleets to other world cities over the next four years.

The Ford Fusion Hybrid on a test run (Ford)

While Ford is concentrating solely on the road, Aerospace a more ambitious plan.

By 2030, 60 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities, which is 10 per cent more than today, according to aerospace firm Airbus.

The company’s radical solution to the inevitable increase in traffic congestion is to launch autonomous flying vehicles (concept drawing pictured).

“Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most of the way there,” said project executive Rodin Lyasoff.

However, the audacious scheme will also need reliable collision avoidance technology.

While this is just starting to be introduced in cars, no tested airborne system currently exists.

“That’s one of the bigger challenges we aim to resolve as early as possible,” says Lyasoff.

Image credit: Airbus