Urban air mobility

Urban air mobility covers aircraft — almost always battery-electric and multi-rotor — that take off and land vertically (eVTOL) and are sized for short hops across a city rather than regional flights. The case for them is congestion: a direct air route between two urban points can be a fraction of the road distance. The hard parts compound: battery energy density limits range and payload; air traffic management for hundreds of simultaneous low-altitude vehicles is an unsolved coordination problem; and the regulatory pathway from certified prototype to fare-paying service has proved slower and more expensive than early projections.