How do you make a delicious meal in the heart of Italy’s wilderness better? Adding a flying taxi and treehouse, of course. That’s what could happen if the vision of aircraft company EHang Holdings and architects at Giancarlo Zema Design Group comes true.
The two companies teamed up to create an out-of-this-world dining experience where visitors would take an unmanned flying taxi to a set of 100-foot towers—called vertiports—in an Italian forest. You would hop into the aircraft that’s capable of landing vertically on the roof of these eco-friendly towers, enjoy a meal complete with panoramic views, and then fly back to your nearby hotel.
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While the experience as a whole is certainly unique, each element of it is worthy of praise. The towers—inspired by a native tree to Africa called a Baobab—would be constructed using steel and laminated wood. In the tower would be a cafe, waiting room, and a restaurant that spans over 2,100 square feet and is accessed by a central elevator. The rooftop would also generate power using solar panels that would charge the flying taxis.
Speaking of autonomous aerial vehicles, the designers described them as large drones with a central cockpit for passengers. There would be no pilot. Instead, it would fly based on point-to-point direct flight capabilities.
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Although the exact location of the concept has yet to be revealed, renderings show a series of at least three towers in a lush green landscape with a lake. And this won’t be the only flying taxi treehouse dining destination. The developers said the concept would roll out across Southeast Asia and Europe.
What’s more, is flying taxis could become a more regular occurrence in skies across the globe. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), for example, wants these oversized drone-like vehicles to become as common as yellow taxis.
