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An exclusive report by German automotive news site Automobilwoche claimed on Saturday that Porsche is so eager to join the passenger drone industry that the car company would soon be ready to present some concept art. On Friday, we reported that the CEO of Boeing—the largest industrial company in the United States—was highly confident that flying taxis would take off within a decade. The biggest German, high-performance sports car company entering this nascent industry only serves as strong support for that theory. Essentially, this news—if true—would mean more competition, investment, and innovation in the field. Porsche joining in would certainly ramp up the pace and serve to make passenger drones a reality sooner rather than later.
While Porsche AG has confirmed it is working on an “Airtaxi,” as the German report puts it, the company’s sales director Detlev von Platen wouldn’t be shocked if the automobile manufacturer was working on a drone. “It does make sense,” von Platen said. “When I’m driving from Zuffenhausen to the Stuttgart Airport, I need at least half an hour, when I’m lucky. With the aircraft it’d be three and a half minutes,” he posited.
While this is currently all we know about Porsche’s plans on joining the passenger drone business, this is a business move with some foresight and makes sense from an outside perspective. The drone industry has increased dramatically in the past few years, with passenger drone companies having new competition every other week, it seems. The idea of taking a flying taxi to the airport is certainly already popular, but the recent growth in manufacturing and development actually makes it seem within reach.
With companies like Ehang, Airbus, Boeing, Uber, and a wide variety of other giant tech and aircraft companies innovating and competing, we’re hoping everyone learns from each other, and a refined, safe, environmentally friendly passenger drone is eventually birthed into the world. Perhaps Boeing’s CEO was right, and we’ll be taking a drone to the airport when we’re in a rush sometime before 2028. Stay tuned.
