This sustainable “vertiport” powered by photovoltaic panels will use air taxis to boost eco-tourism!

It is 2021 and for some weird reason when we entered the 2000s we all dreamed now would be when we would have flying cars or “air taxis” if you want to make it sound more realistic. However, there is one thing we didn’t include in our imaginative stories, these flying cars or air taxis will pick us up and also land in specific places only unlike Uber or Lyft that comes right outside your door. Keeping the future and these logistical details in mind, Chinese air mobility company EHang announced plans for a “vertiport” in Italy called Baobab designed by Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG). Baobab will be an innovative eco-sustainable vertiport that produces energy and recharge the drones wirelessly!

EHang is developing an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle which will be capable of picking up one to two passengers (initial model) then autonomously flying them to their destination. It is actually not a distant dream, EHang has actually already delivered 40 functioning air taxis to customers for testing, training, and demonstration purposes. So the company joined hands with GZDG to build a vertiport that has been inspired by the African baobab tree. The 30-meter-tall (98-ft) tower will have 360-degree windows and will be constructed from steel + laminated wood. The passengers will take an elevator to the platform for takeoff and landing on the roof terrace. Below the terrace, there is a waiting room as well as a 200 sq m (2,153 sq ft) panoramic restaurant that will offer views of the lush landscape. The vertiport will feature several photovoltaic panels that will generate over 300 kilowatts of power per day. On the roof, there are green areas with seats and three landing areas for electric drones that are recharged wirelessly from the landing pad floor which will feature some of the non-slip photovoltaic panels integrated with LED lights for night lighting and signage.  Baobab, the three independent plug-and-play charging stations, and two-passenger EH216 eVTOLs will run on the power provided by clean energy.

Baobab is a vertiport designed with the intention of boosting the eco-tourism industry – air taxis will pick passengers up at the tower and take them on sightseeing tours of the surrounding countryside. While the exact location for this project is yet to be announced, the EHang is already working on additional structures for Europe and Southeast Asia.

Designer:Giancarlo Zema Design Group

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Design The Uber of Air Taxis: Lilium Aviation needs a Senior Product Designer!

Co-founded in 2015 by Daniel Wiegand, Sebastian Born, Patrick Nathen, and Matthias Meiner, Lilium GmbH is based near Munich, Germany – an internationally renowned high-tech hub for mobility. The founding team met while studying at the Technical University of Munich where they shared a common vision of revolutionizing the way we all travel. And revolutionize they have. Today, Lilium has attracted more than $100Million in funding and employs more than 300 people, bringing together a wealth of experience and expertise from across the world. Every day Lilium is pushing the very boundaries of technology and customer experience to deliver something that has never been done before.  What they do there is hard, but then very few things worth achieving are easy. An insane brownie point is the fact they received the 2019 Red Dot Luminary Award for the design of the Lilium Jet. They’re extremely passionate about diversity, they want you to come as you are, no matter your background. If you share Lilium Aviation’s desire to push the limits of what’s possible, then Apply Now!

Winner of the 2019 Red Dot Luminary Award, the 5 seater Lilium Jet is something that has never existed before. It’s iconic design and pioneering technology make it an air taxi that will revolutionize the way we travel. Here comes the new mobility service for the modern, urbanized age!

The Opportunity

The product team creates everything that the customer sees, touches and feels about Lilium. The team is building and optimizing the whole customer-facing experience and it’s their responsibility to integrate the product design of Lilium’s infrastructure, service and their core product, the Lilium Jet. Lilium also ensures that their colleagues who work at the landing pads or who pilot and maintain the aircrafts are taken care of with high-end employer products so that they’re well placed to deliver their ultimate goal of creating a magical and fully-integrated customer experience. Therefore they need a team player, someone who is passionate about all aspects of design and creativity, and is eager to make the impossible possible; a Senior Product Designer to conduct and implement the design strategy and language for the Lilium jet and its product features.

Responsibilities

  • Understand and put customer needs first, applying your thinking and decision process around the design space of Lilium. This will include exterior, interior, package, materials, color and trim and lighting design of our entire eco-system
  • Create exceptional exterior designs and verify those with the latest advancements in design tools, including VR, AR, CAS and clay modeling
  • Create world-class interior designs, which represent Lilium’s values that create a truly magical experience for our customers
  • Understand and integrate ergonomic concepts
  • Design Class-A surfaces together with our CAS modeling team
  • Apply strong knowledge of legislation and engineering requirements to achieve design feasibility
  • Demonstrate strong respect for project timing schedules and budget constraints
  • Work on any ad hoc related projects or tasks provided by management

Requirements

  • S., B.A., M.S., M.A. or similar in product design, transportation design or similar with an exceptional track record of various design projects aimed at real and imaginary world solutions
  • Minimum of 5 years’ experience in product design or transportation design, preferably for a major international technology company, lifestyle company or design agency
  • Excellent skills in exterior and interior hand sketching and photoshop renderings and the ability to model and proof your design in 3D by using Alias and/or Maya, Rhino or CATIA
  • You have developed product concepts and accompanied them from the initial sketch phase over the prototype phase to market-ready phase. During this process, you were integrated in all facets of the design decision development, including package, engineering loops, CAS, clay phase, concept, and prototyping.
  • Strong conceptual thinking, ideally also gathered experience in advance design projects
  • The ability to adapt to a new formal language and create an outstanding design within that language
  • High level of self-reliance with the ability to work cohesively in a design team and interdepartmentally, as well as autonomously
  • Target-oriented, highly driven work style with analytical and creative problem-solving skills are required
  • You are highly proactive and like to challenge the status quo together with us
  • Fluent English language skills are essential. German and other languages would be beneficial

Benefits

The Lilium HQ is designed to make working there as comfortable as possible. They’ve got the basics covered with ample parking and free transport links to local stations, but it’s also a fun place to work, with shared working spaces, rooms with sofas and hammocks, and a rooftop terrace where you can watch planes taking off all day long. Finally, Lilium is a big believer in the idea that your health is central to your happiness, so they’ve invested in providing an extensive gym, free yoga sessions, bikes you can borrow to cycle around their campus, a relaxation room and three free meals a day.

How to Apply

In order to build a world-class team, Lilium welcomes people from all over the world. From free language tuition to relocation assistance and visa sponsorship, they’ll support you on every step of your journey. Send them your up-to-date portfolio with a cover letter. Within the application process, you will also have to fulfill a design task.

Location

Munich, Germany.

Click here to Apply Now!


Check out all the latest design openings on Yanko Design Job Board

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Volocopter reveals its first commercial autonomous flying taxi

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Airbus shares a glimpse of its flying taxi cockpit

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Bell has begun building Uber’s Air Taxis

The Nexus is a 6-propeller, 4-seater eVTOL from Bell. Showcased in part last year at CES, the company has now built the entire vehicle to scale, much to the delight of its viewers. Bell hopes to have the Nexus ready for flight by the mid-2020s, which means we aren’t far from Uber’s air-taxi takeover.

The Nexus comes with a hybrid-electric propulsion system that allows it to travel further than a full-electric eVTOL. It seats 4 passengers and a driver, and coming from a company that practically builds helicopters and VTOLs for military and commercial purposes, the Nexus is built to be much safer and more reliable than your average self-driving car. In fact, we may see air taxis kick off before self-driving taxis do!

Designer: Bell

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