Airbus and Audi partner to provide air & ground urban mobility services

Seamless, ultra-convenient travel experience ahead for customers

Airbus and the German car manufacturer Audi have teamed up to develop real, near-term urban mobility solutions.

Beginning this summer, Airbus – through its on-demand helicopter platform Voom – will partner with Audi to deliver an end-to-end transportation service, starting in São Paulo and Mexico City. This partnership will provide premium ground transportation serviced by Audi vehicles and helicopter transport via Airbus’ Voom service, allowing customers to have a seamless and ultra-convenient travel experience.

“This important partnership with Audi addresses both current and future challenges for urban mobility. As a first concrete milestone in the cooperation we are developing, we will be offering multi-modal transportation solutions to the world’s most congested cities,” said Airbus CEO Tom Enders. “The world is rapidly urbanizing, and ground infrastructure alone cannot meet the demands of tomorrow. Increased congestion is pushing the cities’ transport systems to the limits, costing travellers and municipalities valuable time and money. Adding the sky as a third dimension to the urban transport networks is going to revolutionise the way we live – and Airbus is ready to shape and build that future of flight.”

“The Audi Group is committed to improve mobility in cities by introducing smart, innovative ideas. To find the best solutions for our customers, we therefore showed in 2018 the first modular system for Urban Air Mobility together with Airbus and our subsidiary Italdesign,” said Audi CEO Rupert Stadler. “Today we are going the next step entering into a service with Airbus and Voom to offer premium mobility for customers. By doing this, we will learn even better how we can ensure seamless, multi-modal transportation with the best partners for our customers. Together with Airbus, we will develop this cooperation further.”

Airbus has already carried out successful trials in São Paulo of its helicopter ride-hailing service Voom, which aims to ease congestion by making helicopter travel more accessible and affordable. Since March 2018, the service is also available in Mexico City. Airbus and Italdesign are partnering on Pop Up, a full electric auto piloted and modular concept including a capsule connected to either ground or air module. Elsewhere, teams are working to create entirely new vehicles: CityAirbus, ready to fly before the end of 2018, is a technology demonstrator of an electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicle for up to four passengers.  Vahana aims to create a similar mode of transport for individual travellers or cargo. It completed its first full-scale flight in January 2018. In Singapore, the company is working with the country’s National University on the Skyways project to test a parcel transportation system using autonomous drones.

About Audi

The Audi Group, with its brands Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini, is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the premium segment. It is present in more than 100 markets worldwide and produces at 16 locations in twelve countries. 100 percent subsidiaries of AUDI AG include Audi Sport GmbH (Neckarsulm), Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy) and Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (Bologna, Italy).

In 2017, the Audi Group delivered to customers about 1.878 million automobiles of the Audi brand, 3,815 sports cars of the Lamborghini brand and 55,900 motorcycles of the Ducati brand. In the 2017 fiscal year, AUDI AG achieved total revenue of €60.1 billion and an operating profit of €5.1 billion. At present, approximately 90,000 people work for the company all over the world, more than 60,000 of them in Germany. Audi focuses on sustainable products and technologies for the future of mobility.

About Italdesign

Italdesign is a service company providing design, engineering and production for the transportation industry, through to final testing and type-approval and support into Starting of Production and the design of complete business models. Italdesign is constantly researching and developing the mobility solutions of tomorrow. Italdesign is based in Moncalieri, Torino, Italy and today has premises of more than 50,000 square meters, a full-scale design and engineering campus and a cutting-edge development and prototyping centre. It has 1000 employees in Italy, Spain and abroad.

Italdesign offers its services to all interested parties worldwide. In 2017 Italdesign launched as additional business, a dedicated unit to design, develop and produce ultra-limited vehicles for all OEMs worldwide. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, Italdesign was awarded Top Employer certification in Italy. More information on: www.italdesign.it

About Voom

Voom is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus Helicopters that was launched in 2016 as an on-demand helicopter booking platform allowing passengers to request a seat on a helicopter within minutes. Voom now offers its services in Sao Paulo and Mexico City. By providing a more efficient transportation option to daily commuters, it aims to address challenges associated with rush-hour traffic by offering an alternative form of transportation in some of the world’s most congested cities