Bumble Bee Flights, a Bengaluru-based Startup, is considering building autonomous air taxis. The startup’s recently-raised funding of Rs 300 cr from the UK-based technology conglomerate SRAM & MRAM Technologies and Resources Limited will be used for the purpose. Bumble Bee Flights plans to establish an assembly plant in Odisha for manufacturing air taxis under the brand ‘Bee Flights’. The first prototype is expected to be unveiled by April 2023.
Serial Entrepreneur Arjun Das started Bumble Bee Flights in 2022. It claims to have designed and developed India’s first autonomous air mobility solution capable of transporting humans. To design and manufacture the air taxis, Bumble Bee Flights would associate with operators across the globe. The US, UK, UAE, India, and Singapore are its primary target markets.
Bee Flights air taxis that can land on rooftop apartments would run on solar-charged swappable batteries. It would weigh around 300 kg. The taxis would be certified and available for production by 2024. It can carry one person and a suitcase and can fly for 20 minutes covering 20 km. According to Arjun Das, autonomous taxis would reduce carbon footprints. He believes that they would be a common global feature by 2035
