From the Los Angeles Times
The promise of flying cars — for generations a Hollywood staple of a space-age future, from “The Jetsons” to “Blade Runner” — is finally becoming a reality, so much so that a Swedish company is already selling a single-passenger vehicle called Jetson 1.
Los Angeles transportation officials are preparing for this new era and expect drone-like electric air taxis to be operational by the time the 2028 Summer Olympics roll around, if not far sooner.
Companies are eyeing L.A.'s vast inventory of parking lots and high-rise roofs for so-called vertiports as a gateway for the technology to take off internationally. Mayor Eric Garcetti has embraced the concept, and in 2019 he helped launch nonprofit Urban Movements Lab to accelerate new mobility technologies. It has been working with Archer, Hyundai and other groups to help shape city regulations around future airspace.
The city Department of Transportation released a report last year looking at the myriad potential regulations the flying taxis could face relating to noise levels, permits and how the overhead flights could affect the communities below. That followed a 2020 report with the World Economic Forum, “Principles of the Urban Sky,” outlining seven principles that should guide policy making, including noise, equity of access and connection to other transportation modes.
The efforts were a step in figuring out how to anticipate and regulate a technology that even many of its creators have not flown. There are concerns about safety, quality of life and affordability. While a single air taxi may be relatively quiet, what happens when there is a constant stream of them coming in and out of a landing spot? Should there be nighttime restrictions on flights? Will this just be a means for the ultra-wealthy to buzz over poor neighborhoods to Dodger Stadium or Crypto.com Arena?
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