Cora, the flying taxi that you book with an App. It will be the Uber of the heavens.

The co-founder of Google, Larry Page, presents the futuristic autonomous electric vehicle, capable of carrying two passengers: takes off and lands like a helicopter, but flies like an airplane; travels at 150 kilometers per hour and has a range of 100 kilometers Science fiction becomes reality sooner than expected. The Google co-founder, Larry Page, has unveiled the autonomous driving electric taxi, which travels at 150 kilometers per hour with a range of 100 kilometers and can be booked with an App. The futuristic self-piloted aircraft is called Cora and could enter commercial service during 2021, in just three years. Yesterday, Cora got the first go-ahead from the New Zealand authorities, where Kitty Hawk, through its subsidiary Zephyr Airworks, has been testing this drone for two months, taking off and landing like a helicopter, but flying like an airplane. The South Island was chosen not only because its skies are much less crowded than those in California, where Kitty Hawk was born, today led by the "godfather" of the car without driver Sebastian Thrun. But also because the New Zealand regulation is much lighter and more permissive than the US one. Cora, of which a promotional video was published yesterday, is equipped with a dozen lifting fans on the wings, which allow it to take off and land vertically like a helicopter. But developers guarantee that it is much quieter, and could carry passengers in urban areas using roofs and parking lots as landing strips. It is a challenge against traffic (Cora can fly 900 meters high), but also against pollution. "We are offering a pollution-free, emission-free vehicle that flies reliably. We think this is the logical next step in the evolution of transport, "explained CEO Zephyr, Fred Reid. The stated goal of Kitty Hawk is to build, control and operate a fleet of new aircraft, offering a self-piloted flying taxi service to be managed through an online platform, similar to the Uber App. But other companies are ready to compete with the projects of Page, 44, currently CEO of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, co-founded by the American entrepreneur twenty years ago together with Stanford University's partner, Sergey Brin. At the forefront, there are Uber, which has already revolutionized urban transport, and the German Volocopter. From Corriere della Sera by Giuliana Ferraino