Volocopter, which is one of the leaders in Urban Air mobility, has announced a joint venture in the NEOM region of Saudi Arabia where it will design, implement and operate the world's first public eVTOL mobility system. The initial order is for 15 Volocopter aircraft that will begin initial operations in the next 2-3 years.
NEOM is a $500 billion sustainable development region that is being pitched as the city of the future. It is rich in wind and solar energy resources and has a goal of being fully powered by renewable energy projects.
"NEOM is a region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea being built from the ground up as a living laboratory - a place where entrepreneurship will chart the course for this New Future. A hub for innovation, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and companies will come to NEOM to research, incubate and commercialize new technologies and enterprises in ground-breaking ways," says NEOM.
NEOM has ordered 15 air taxis from Volocopter
"In designing cities and urban infrastructure for the 21st century, mobility is at the center of the equation. Through this joint venture with Volocopter, we are demonstrating to the world that NEOM is the ideal region to implement urban air mobility rapidly and create a fully integrated vertical mobility ecosystem. NEOM is on a mission to become a global living lab for future mobility, and we are very excited to see what the future holds as we grow," reveals the CEO of NEOM, Nadhmi Al-Nasr.
NEOM hopes that Volocopter's Urban Mobility Services will connect the Saudi Arabian region's car-less, street-less urban section known as the Line with the industrial city of OXAGON. The work between Volocopter and NEOM will start in 2022 and test flights will start in the next two to three years.
Volocopter has projects in Los Angeles and it will start public tests in Japan by 2023. It also is working on operating air taxis in Paris during the 2024 Olympic Games.
