Volocopter showcases its 'flying taxi' in Germany's Stuttgart

C/U Volocopter flying, Stuttgart
W/S Crowd watching volocopter
M/S Volocopter flying
M/S Volocopter flying
W/S Volocopter flying
M/S Volocopter on display
SOT, Helena Treeck, Senior Global PR Manager at Volocopter GmbH (German): ''The volocopter is a flying taxi. In the industry it's called electrical, vertical take off and landing aircraft. That means that it is powered by electricity with nine batteries that are located at the back of the volocopter and it works in a similar way to a drone. There are some 18 rotors behind me and it is powered through them. It can take off and land in a perpendicular way and it flies very quietly and stably through the city centre.''
M/S Person getting in to volocopter
M/S Person in volocopter
C/U Nose of volocopter
M/S Volocopter from above
M/S Volocopter from behind
C/U Specifications of volocopter
SOT, Sajjad Khan, Member of the divisional board of management of Mercedes-Benz cars: ''The future of the mobility is going. There is one thing which is extremely important, that is the 24 hours a day, which is constant for a beggar as well as for the king, no one can buy that, no one can get it. If we could offer the future of mobility to our kids and to their kids, in a way they can win more time back and they can enjoy the rest of the time for doing something else, to have more lovely time with their families or to think about the new ideas and all of those kind of things. Then I think that we have achieved that kind of a level and I would say that we have been successful on that one. So our kids, they will get more and more time out, they may not spend the time by moving, by driving themselves and all of those kinds of things and spending and burning the time on moving from A to B.''
W/S Thomas Strobl, Deputy Minister President of Baden-Wuerttemberg and others on stage
M/S Crowd
SOT, Thomas Strobl, Deputy Minister President of Baden-Wuerttemberg (German): ''For years the Trollinger [wine grape] has been spoken about badly, then we moved on to start talking badly about our cars then our motors. I am happy that we are talking positively about this, about what's happening in Baden-Wuerttemberg, about the motors that are being built here, about the transport in our state and in particular about this cool Volocopter that comes from Baden-Wuerttemberg.''
C/U Sign for exhibition
SCRIPT
German company 'Volocopter' flew its air taxi in Stuttgart on Saturday as members of the public watched on from the ground below.
Marketed as a "flying taxi," the electrically-powered machine uses rotors to take off and land, similar to the mechanics of a drone. Saturday's event was marketed as being the "first public flight by an air taxi in a European city."
Representative Helena Treeck explained that due to its 18 rotors, the device "can take off and land in a perpendicular way and it flies very quietly and stably through the city centre.''
Sajjad Khan, member of the divisional board of management of Mercedes-Benz cars, marvelled at the time saving potential of the machine, noting that future generations could "win more time back and they can enjoy the rest of the time for doing something else, to have more lovely time with their families or to think about the new ideas."
On its website, the company says the device is "developed for safe, manned flight in inner cities."