Let’s face it: there are plenty of traffic jams on the ground. Meanwhile, in the sky. . . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

While plenty of companies, including Geely, are showing off electric vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show, there is one vehicle that is particularly intriguing in the Geely Technology Group exhibit: the Volocopter 2X.

It is an electric air taxi.

The category is called “urban air mobility” (UAM).

The objective is to provide transport services, like a cab, but in the air.

Geely, which invested in Volocopter in 2019, and Volocopter have agreed to a joint venture through which they’ll be offering UAM services in China.

Said Florian Reuter, CEO of Velocopter, “Geely’s market leadership in China and forward-thinking approach to expanding mobility options make them a great strategic investor. They are an invaluable partner for bringing urban air mobility to China—one of the most promising markets for the UAM industry globally.”

The 2X is a two seater.

It has flown test flights in China, and is the model that they’ll be starting service with.

It has 18 rotors and nine exchangeable batteries, which is said to provide redundancy in case of failure during service.

Volocopter is presently working on a fifth-generation model, the VoloCity, which has a speed of 110 km/h and a flight duration of 35 minutes.