Shaping future with flying taxis

Self-flying air taxis, bay cats and high-capacity metros are part of City of Moreton Bay’s bold push to “shape a nation-leading” future for its booming population.

The initiatives were outlined at today’s Moreton Bay Leaders’ Forum, where Moreton Bay City Council unveiled its ‘City of Tomorrow’ strategy.

Council’s 10-year plan reveals a new city with vital road infrastructure including a Bruce Highway Western Alternative and transport options, rapid connections ... and autonomous aircraft.

Mayor Peter Flannery said Council has been working with Wisk, an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) company and developer of the world’s first self-flying, all-electric, four-seat eVTOL air taxi, for “a number of years”.

The system would operate on routes, similar to trains. Preliminary work around cost and time of travel have been done and the Council-owned airports at Redcliffe and Caboolture may be used.

Dan Parsons, Wisk’s Manager APAC Market Development, said the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft would fly from vertipads or vertiports using a large battery to power 12 motors.

A typical flight from Moreton Bay to the City would take about 15-20 minutes with four passengers on board.

“On board the aircraft it is autonomous, no pilot,” Mr Parsons said.

"We have human oversight operating on the ground from our fleet operations centre and people to help our passengers on and off the aircraft.

“But what we are trying to achieve with an autonomous taxis is a fleet-wide efficiency where we can move people throughout the network throughout the day.

“We are working with all those levels of government to pave the way."

Mr Parsons said the goal is for "us and the technology to meet at a time just before the (Olympic) Games to implement a service".

"We need to interact with all levels of government, local government for planning and engaging with the local community, State Government for that oversight, planning and integrating into a regional solution and Federal Government with respect to aviation regulations and airspace integration," he said.

"We are working with all those levels to pave the way."

Mr Parsons said the aim is to be quieter than existing aircraft, "but noise is an issue we would work on with local government".

Mayor Flannery told the 26 elected representatives and 250 guests Council wants its fair share of funding for City-shaping projects but says “we cannot do this alone”.

“With our population predicted to double to 1 million in the next 30 years, we need to deliver critical infrastructure now to improve road networks, transform our public transport networks and deliver economic opportunities.