The numbers are still mouthwatering, and it’s little wonder that so many people want a seat at the table for the anticipated urban air mobility feast. The transport consultant firm of Roland Berger has just provided a fresh taste of what could be served up by the sector in its latest report, predicting that 160,000 of what it calls “commercial passenger drones” will be in the air by 2050. The Europe-based group values the market at $90 billion in a paper entitled "The High-Flying Industry: Urban Air Mobility Takes Off."
Some have questioned whether this nascent sector will survive the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, and not without reason. But the latest headline figures from Roland Berger represent a 60 percent increase from its earlier market survey published in November 2018, which projected 100,000 eVTOL aircraft in service 30 years from now.
Despite the pandemic, the report says that a further $907 million was invested in the start-up-led sector during the first six months of 2020. That’s more than 22 times the $40 million invested in 2016.
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