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What has just happened?
The investment group Baillie Gifford has just invested over $35 million into Lilium. [1]The German start-up company is gaining recognition as it hopes to be ferrying passengers between cities in its electric aircraft by 2025. [2]
What does this mean?
The notion of ‘flying taxis’ may seem like an unrealistic notion stemming from the film ‘Back to the future’. [3] However, the success of the Lillium jet has already been seen in its 2019 maiden flight over Germany[4] as well as the valuation of the firm at around $1 billion. This seems to suggest that ‘flying taxis’ are within our immediate future.
The German firm already has agreed plans with Düsseldorf Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport. To provide connecting ‘shuttles’ between the airports in order to improve regional mobility within the North Rhine – Westphalia region.
The all-electric Lillium jet takes off and lands vertically and can be occupied by 4 passengers plus a pilot with 60 minutes of flying time at a top speed of 300km/h.[5] A key design of the jet, which is set to make it desirable for inner city travel, is its low noise 36 electrical engines.[6] The whole concept of the Lillium is to increase the connectivity of regional cities and reduce the volume of road users in the city centre.
There is competition already emerging within the air taxi market, which is expected to be worth $1.5tn a year by 2040, according to a report from Morgan Stanley.[7] The air-line and now air taxi market has been deemed the was ‘probably one of the toughest markets in the world’.[8]
The Bell Nexus is designed to carry four passengers as part of Uber's air taxi service, UberAir, which is slated to start operating in 2023. However, Bell VP of Innovation Scott Drennan tells TechCrunch 2025 is probably the earliest we'll see a Bell flying taxi in the skies.
At least 19 tech and aerospace manufacturers have already shown interest in developing their own form of air taxi travel. With Uber announcing plans to launch its own flying taxi by 2023.[9] As well as Volocopter, another German company, testing an aircraft in Singapore and obtaining investment from tech company Intel and carmaker Daimler.[10]
How does this Impact the legal sector?
The main concern of the ‘flying taxi’ is how it will respect the current regulations over airspace. In its most brief form Bernstein V Sky Views, demonstrates that landowners have rights extended above their land to a degree of ordinary use. [11]
This then begs the question of how will flying taxis will respect this rooted common law principle. Especially when the concept for flying taxis is aimed for large metropolitan cities where buildings reach 244m in height.[12] The current concept of aerospace regulation does seem to accommodate for Lilliums view for integrated ‘flying taxis’ by 2025. [13]
Yet, the elephant in the room regarding regulation hasn’t phased the excitement and investment into both Lillium and the market for flying taxis.
Notably, Baillie Gifford is ‘one of the world’s most influential tech investors’ being original investors in both Amazon and Tesla. [14] Their keenness to invest in the sector has raised both the profile and possibility of other investments. Subsequently, law firms will need to be foreword thinking as they being to advise client who may be interested in investing. Following the continued success of Tesla, the ‘flying taxi’ seems a viable option.
Furthermore, property departments will need to be innovative when thinking of the infrastructure requirements to support flying taxi services when the time comes. Some property developers within London have already begun incorporating this infrastructure. As London has been ‘is anticipated to be one of the largest markets for urban air mobility’[15]
Written by Megan Hornsby
Assessing firms:
#Clyde & Co LLP #DLA Piper #HFW #Norton Rose Fullbright #Kennedys #Bird & Bird #Hogan Lovells #Dentons #Addleshaw Goddard
References:
[1] Simon Duke, ‘Tesla Supporter James Anderson gives flying taxi firm Lilium a $35 lift’ (The Sunday Times, 10 June 2020) accessed on 25 October 2020https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tesla-supporter-james-anderson-gives-flying-taxi-firm-lilium-a-35m-lift-7zfcrkfnj
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Editorial Team, ‘German air taxi startup Lilium gets funding from Tesla investor, crosses €1b valuation’ (Silicon Canals, 10 June 2020) accessed on 25 October 2020 <https://siliconcanals.com/news/german-air-taxi-startup-lilium-funding/>
[5] Editorial Team, ‘7 all-electric aircraft in Europe revolutionise the aviation industry’ (Silicon canals, 14 October 2020) accessed on 25 October 2020 <https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/all-electric-aircrafts-in-europe/>
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid
[8] Maija Palmer, ‘Lilium finds its first flying taxi hubs’ (Sifted, 10 September 2020) accessed on 23 October < https://sifted.eu/articles/dusseldorf-and-cologne-flying-taxi-hubs/>
[9] Tim Bradshaw, ‘Uber reveals plans for flying taxi-service by 2023’ (Financial Times, 10 May 2018) accessed on 23 October 2020 < https://www.ft.com/content/6a22efb0-540d-11e8-b3ee-41e0209208ec>
[10] Maija Palmer, ‘Lilium hopes to soar with launch of electric air taxis’ (The Financial Times, 14 March 2019) accessed on 25 October < https://www.ft.com/content/e0b66e56-1364-11e9-a168-d45595ad076d >
[11] [1978] QB 479
[12] India Block, ‘ Record number of supertall skyscrapers completed in 2018’ (Deezen, 10 January 2019) accessed on 25 October < https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/10/record-supertall-ctbuh-skyscraper-report-2018/ - :~:text=The trend for towers in,2017 average of 244 metres.>
[13] Maija Palmer, ‘Lilium finds its first flying taxi hubs’ (Sifted, 10 September 2020) accessed on 23 October < https://sifted.eu/articles/dusseldorf-and-cologne-flying-taxi-hubs/>
[14] Chris Flood, ‘Bold tech bets transform Baillie Gifford into UK’s fastest- growing fund group ( Financial Times, 25 July 2020) accessed on 25 October 2020 < https://www.ft.com/content/d60a3442-3d82-42dc-bd48-9b24a305371a>
[15] Mill Jones, ‘Companies buying up rooftops as London sets to welcome flying taxis’ ( Harold Benjamin, 25 November 2019) accessed on 25 October 2020 <https://www.haroldbenjamin.com/site/blog/harold-benjamin-blog/london_set_to_welcome_flying_taxis>
Disclaimer: This article (and any information accessed through links in this article) is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.