British passenger drone company Vertical Aerospace begins flight testing and is expected to be put into commercial use in 2026

CTOnews.com, July 21 / PRNewswire-Asianet /-- British passenger drone company Vertical Aerospace has begun flight testing of its full-size electric aerial taxi, which aims to be put into commercial use by 2026.

Vertical Aerospace has previously unveiled its VX4 eVTOL drone, which can hold up to five people and has a range of more than 100mph and a speed of 200mph.

Vertical Aerospace has received orders for more than 1350 drones from around the world, ranking first in the industry, while Vertical Aerospace is focusing on working with the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration to open up more markets.

▲ source Vertical Aerospace tweeted that the prototype they recently tested in flight looks similar to the design announced last year, according to the drone company's tweet. After taking off from London's Cotswold Airport, the VX4 maintained a "vertical hover" mode, gradually increasing its speed from 0 km / h to about 74 km / h, and did not switch to "push mode".

The commercial passenger drone market is so competitive that Vertical Aerospace's competitors are not idle. For example, the Joby Aviation of the United States has carried out thousands of comprehensive test flights, and even the junior Archer has already mass produced its passenger drones, while in China, Xiaopeng, Yihang and other companies have also come up with their own products. However, considering that the cost of carrying drones is still high, it is expected that after these drones are put into commercial use, it will be difficult to distance them from traditional aviation in the short term.