One of the main backers of Lilium is Frank Thelen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Thelen), a VC from Germany, best known for his participation in the German version of Shark Thank ("Die Höhle der Löwen").
He seems to believe that eVTOL are the future of mass transportation, like an airborne version of taxis. I personally don't find that plausible at all, but maybe I'm just not creative enough to imagine a future where this would work.
I mean I love the sci-finess of the concept also I doubt it'll ever "fly".
But I will bet money that we'll see self driving electric Ubers on the road before we see those air-taxis.
And it's going to be incredibly hard to compete with those. Especially as city will be becoming less crowded as more and more people realize they don't need a car anymore.
I live in Bangkok where Taxis are extremely cheap compared to owning a car. I would never bother getting my own car, it's just so convenient to let someone else drive in the city.
- are the air taxi concepts technologically viable? I'd say yes, after all they are flying one way or the other. Besides being electric concepts like Joby and Volocopter are proofen. Lilium is techologically more challenging, but still feasible with existing tech. Not sure robo taxis will beat them there.
- Commercial viability. We know there will be a market for robot taxis, they are taxis without a driver. There UAM is the big bet, is there a market, and if so how big is it? There robo taxis might be faster.
He seems to believe that eVTOL are the future of mass transportation, like an airborne version of taxis. I personally don't find that plausible at all, but maybe I'm just not creative enough to imagine a future where this would work.