The Port of Hamburg Huge cargo ships are moored alongside their berths while heavy containers are being unloaded from them The port bustles with activity and the noise interferes with the buzz from above where drones are busy doing their job Two years ago the local terminal operator HHLA started using the small aerial ve hicles for visual maintenance checks The Hamburg Port Authority has been using drones to inspect the nearby 135 meter 443 foot high Köhlbrand Bridge for damage for several years as well The unmanned airborne spies have also been monitoring train tracks pipelines the façades of buildings or offshore windfarms and law en forcement agencies are increasingly enlisting the aid of this type of air support too Two tons of payload The areas in which drones are used are practi cally growing by the day In Singapore Airbus recently launched the transportation of goods by drones to ships berthed in the city state s coastal waters Up to four ki los 8 8 lbs of payload and distances of up to three ki lometers 1 9 miles are already possible today so that spare parts medicines money or documents can be flown to the vessels which is routine business in ma jor global transshipment hubs such as Singapore With drones this can be accomplished six times faster and 90 percent cheaper than by boat according to Airbus In the Port of Hamburg even large containers are supposed to be flown back and forth by drones in the foreseeable future In our operations the boxes are learning to fly promises Angela Titzrath CEO of Hamburger Hafen and Logistik AG HHLA Considering that some quadcopters are already able to lift up to two tons 2 2 short tons one is inclined to believe her promise All of these examples are just the beginning of a vertical mobility offensive As the size of drones keeps growing so do their possible uses Prof Dr Ing Tim Hosenfeldt Senior Vice President Technology Strategy Innovation at Schaeffler is convinced The future of urban mobility will increasingly be airborne At a con gress about urban mobility concepts of the future the Schaeffler expert described the wide range of possible applications from delivery services medical care and interurban mobility all the way to motor racing see also infographic on page 84 Democratization of vertical mobility Vertical mobility has already become reality to day in megacities such as São Paulo Mexico City Lon don and New York with helicopters However only the wealthy can afford this convenient congestion free and thus punctual service Drones may help democratize this form of mobility Mobility services provider Uber expects initial costs for Uber Air drone taxis to amount to 5 73 dollars per passenger mile with a mid term tar get of 1 86 dollars and ultimately 0 44 dollars which would roughly amount to the costs of a passenger mile in a privately owned car Porsche Consulting has costed some routes for Hamburg such as a drone flight from the airport to the city s new landmark the Elbphilharmo nie concert hall The result 30 euros for 12 kilometers 7 5 miles on a 30 minute flight faster and cheaper than the ground bound taxi competition Drone technology fascinates political leaders These figures almost sound like bargains not to be missed so the question is when drones in passen ger and freight transportation will actually get off the ground We expect the breakthrough in 2025 says Schaeffler expert Hosenfeldt Sebastian Thrun a long standing Google VP and Fellow and current CEO of air taxi startup Kitty Hawk is convinced that in a few years time this will be the hottest topic on the planet Such predictions are supported by the large scale efforts cur rently being made to vigorously drive the technology forward Established companies in the aviation sector like Airbus Bell and Boeing or startups such as Lilium eHang Kitty Hawk and Volocopter are at the ready and political leaders provide tailwind On the occasion of the Airbus flying taxi presentation German Transport Min ister Andreas Scheuer was almost euphoric We want to take drones and flying taxis out of the laboratory into the air in the spirit of Germany as a strong place for in novation His Austrian colleague Norbert Hofer verbal ly goes full throttle as well in expressing his hopes for Austria to be among the first countries to see drone taxis The future of urban mobility will increasingly be airborne Prof Dr Ing Tim Hosenfeldt Senior Vice President Technology Strategy Innovation 83 82

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