A pop-up urban port for delivery drones -- and one day, potentially flying taxis -- launched Monday in Britain, lifting a box of prosecco for a brief celebratory test flight hailed as groundbreaking. Air-One, a so-called "vertiport" for drones and future electric vehicles taking off and landing vertically, was proclaimed as the first of its kind by proponents and heralding a new era of low-emission futuristic air transport. Based in Coventry, a former car manufacturing powerhouse in central England, the site will be used for a month-long showcase of the burgeoning industry. The inaugural flight symbolically lifted the six-bottle box of sparkling wine, weighing around 12 kilograms, from the launch pad. The commercial drone used -- Malloy Aeronautics' T150, on loan from its day job doing logistics for the British military -- is the largest ever to fly in such an urban environment, according to Ricky Sandhu, founder and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port, the British firm behind the vertiport venture.

Hyundai have revealed plans to develop autonomous, 'self-flying', electric taxis -- with seating for up to five passengers -- that will hit the skies by the year 2028. To deliver this, the Seoul-based manufacturer announced yesterday that it had transformed its Urban Air Mobility Division into a new company, Supernal. Supernal, which will be US-based, has said it will also be working to integrate the planned craft into existing transit networks and create necessary infrastructure. Such might include so-called vertiports -- transport hubs for flying taxis. Hyundai first revealed its concept for a flying taxi, the S-A1 Personal Air Vehicle, at last year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.