Lilium, a company that has been working on flying taxis that can take off and land vertically, has ceased operations. As noted by TechCrunch, the German newspaper Gründerszene was the first to report that the company laid off 1,000 employees a few days ago after failing to secure more funding to continue developing its technology. Patrick Nathan, the company’s co-founder, announced that the company had ceased operations on LinkedIn. Tagging his co-founders, he said they could no longer continue to work on their “shared belief in environmentally friendly aviation,” at least under the name Lilium.
The German company has been testing its VTOL electric air taxis for some time now. The vehicle made its first flight back in 2017, and the first phase of flight tests was completed in 2019. Lilium has been able to prove that its VTOL air taxis are capable of flying at speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour, although the Lilium Jet prototype, unveiled in 2019, was supposed to reach speeds of up to 300 km/h and have a range of 300 kilometers.
Lilium has been experiencing financial difficulties over the past year, but its CEO reportedly remained optimistic as recently as last month that it could secure sufficient funding. Gründerschen said that a small number of people would remain employed to help with the company’s liquidation. The company has not yet announced what will happen to its technology and remaining assets, but its patent attorney Fabien Muller wrote in a post that he is managing the process of transferring Lilium’s intellectual property.
