Middle East: “Air Taxis a Major Agenda at Qatar NDS3 Event”
The Third Qatar National Development Strategy (NDS3) event held virtually, focused on the benefits from advanced technologies and achieving sustainable development and economic diversification “to further boost Qatar’s leading global position on the transportation map,” reports thepeninsulaqatar.com.
This recent meeting was the first session of the Autonomous e-Mobility (AEMOB) Forum series entitled ‘The Future of Air Mobility: Innovations & Emerging Trends’.
It covered the elements shaping the field of air mobility including an implementation of air taxis in 2025, standards and policies, market competition, societal incorporation, and the technical challenges and opportunities in the field.
Shahram Tahmasseby, a research associate at the Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Centre, highlighted the integration of autonomous air taxis to the network in the country during the Webinar. He spoke about the challenges and obstacles which included infrastructure requirements, regulatory framework, safety standards and technological integration.
Tahmasseby told the virtual audience that “technology integration and advancement in digital technology requires advanced navigation systems. That autonomous and the semi-autonomous operation of air taxis could be achieved by utilisation of artificial intelligence and advanced navigation systems to enable autonomous or semi-autonomous flights, reducing the need for human pilots and increasing operational performance.”
Doha
He went on to say “the integration of real-time data analytics and machine learning to optimise flight paths and manage air traffic dynamically is also important” and that “public and private partnerships can be achieved by encouraging collaboration between government agencies such as the Ministry of Transport (MoT), Ooredoo, Vodafone and Mowasalat alongside private companies such as Uber and an assortment of startups to fund and develop air taxi infrastructure to ensure broad access and service distribution.”
Infrastructure development was also discussed including the designing of vertiports and vertistops. These facilities, explained Tahmasseby, could be located in popular and large footfall areas such as Doha West Bay, Doha Port, Doha Airport, Lusail, Al Wakra, Al Khor and Salwa Beach.
Tahmasseby added that “to ensure a successful integration of air taxis in Qatar’s transport system (or any country in general) includes smart city integration, smartphone based tool, and economic and social considerations.”
While smartphone based tools and platforms such as SILA (a travel planner by MoT) can be used for the development of user-friendly mobile applications for booking, tracking and paying for air taxi rides, integrating them with existing ride-sharing and public transportation apps. Autonomous air taxi services information could be included into the SILA platform.
The MoT recently formed plans to trial the use of electric air taxis and delivery drones during the early part of next year. This decision was impressed upon them due to the rapid advances presently being made in other regions of the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Shahram Tahmasseby
Tahmasseby further explained that transit hubs were important to integrate the existing Doha transportation systems. Vertiports required to be integrated with existing hubs such as the Hamad International Airport and the DECC, al Aziziya and Leghtefiya Metro stations.
For more information
https://www.qu.edu.qa/sites/en_US/research/Qatar-Transportation-and-Traffic-Safety-Center
(News Source: https://thepeninsulaqatar.com)
(Top image: Krishna Prasad/Fast Company Middle East)
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