Volocopter Joins Osaka Roundtable to Bring UAM to Japan
BRUCHSAL, Oct. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Volocopter, the pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM), has joined the Osaka roundtable, an institution eager to bring UAM to one of the busiest cities in Asia. As part of the engagement, the German eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) developer also committed to fly during the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai. Together with long-term partner and investor Japan Airlines (JAL), who recently reserved Volocopter aircraft, Volocopter accelerates its commitment in Japan and plans to conduct public test flights as early as 2023.
On 1 October 2021, Volocopter partook in the Osaka Roundtable. Osaka Prefecture has one of the largest industrial bay areas in Asia, an ideal location to test over various environmental conditions. As host of the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, Osaka has strong ambitions to kickstart UAM businesses from this event onward.
Since 2018, Japan has been proactively shaping its future of air mobility and set an ambitious target to achieve full commercialization of eVTOLs by 2030. Japan boasts a comprehensive roadmap for UAM businesses to achieve these goals.
Furthermore, Volocopter is strategically joining forces with local partners and regulators early in the commercialization process to strengthen its position within the market. Recently, JAL reserved 100 Volocopter aircraft (VoloDrone and VoloCity) units for its future use. Additionally, Volocopter has started direct communications with local government offices to discuss how Volocopter products can support the local ecosystem.
Florian Reuter – CEO, Volocopter: "We are honored to be seated at the Osaka Roundtable and take flight at an important milestone of the Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai. Japan's and Osaka's commitment to UAM commercialization and its open approach allows us to be involved in pioneering them into the future of mobility. As the world's first and only eVTOL developer with successful public flights in several continents and a family of multi-functional aircraft, we are confident that we will become an integral part of Japan's future UAM ecosystem. We aim to improve lives in densely populated areas with our sustainable UAM services."
Volocopter has committed to air taxi services in Singapore within the next three years and announced the delivery of 150 of Volocopter products to China's Geely.
About Volocopter
Volocopter is building the world's first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services for goods and people to megacities worldwide. Volocopter leads and cooperates with partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management to build the ecosystem necessary to "Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life." Volocopter has offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore. The company has raised a total of €322 million in equity form investors including Daimler, Geely, BlackRock, and Intel Capital. www.volocopter.com
SOURCE Volocopter GmbH
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