Flying Cars set to arrive in Coventry
Trials are starting in November
Coventry is to host the world's first air hub for flying electric cars and delivery drones.
The facility, known as Air One, will be built through a partnership involving South Korean car-maker Hyundai.
It is proposed the hub will host electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, including air taxis and autonomous delivery drones, transporting people and cargo across cities over coming years.
The site, which is being developed by the company Urban Air Port, is set to be unveiled later this year during the Coventry City of Culture celebrations.
It comes after the project was awarded a £1.2 million government grant by the UK Research and Innovation's Future Flight Challenge (RIFFC), and is expected to attract match-funding from the commercial sector.
Developers are hoping the new hub will be the first of up to 200 such sites to be built in cities across the world over the next five years.
Urban Air Port said it had picked Coventry because of its central location, meaning travellers could access most parts of the UK mainland within four hours, and because it was a 'historic hub' for the automotive and aerospace sectors.
Ricky Sandhu, executive chairman, said just as 'cars need roads', 'eVTOLs will need urban air ports', which are 60% smaller than heliports.
He added that the new hubs would help the UK to take the lead in a whole new clean global economy''.
Jim O'Boyle, Coventry City Council cabinet member for jobs and innovation, said:
'We are already a city that is helping to shape the future of electric transport and this is yet another groundbreaking project that puts Coventry at the forefront of new technologies.
It highlights how the council is working alongside a range of organisations to help shape a better, greener future.'