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Dufour Aerospace Announces Senior Advisory Team

16 November 2018 || 4 min read

Dufour Aerospace is a unique VTOL start-up based in Switzerland. It’s mission is to develop a passenger VTOL for areas like the Swiss Alps, where mountainous terrain can cause extremely long travel times between cities. The Dufour team has already made significant progress by developing an electric airplane that has proven flight up to one hour, multiple times per day....

Dufour Aerospace Announces Senior Advisory Team

16 November 2018 || 4 min read

The Dufour team has already made significant progress by developing an electric airplane that has proven flight up to one hour, multiple times per day. Dufour predicts that it will have its aEro2 eVTOL for testing by 2020.

The aEro1, the Dufour Aerospace electric test plane

The aEro1, Dufour’s electric test plane

On November 14th, Dufour announced the formation of Senior Advisory team, which includes Professor Dr. Leonardo Manfriani (former chief aerodynamicist at Pilatus Aircraft), Dr. Pierluigi Capone (former head of flight control laws at AgustaWestland), and Dr. Jean-Christophe Zufferey (Co-founder and former CEO of senseFly).

Dufour Aerospace new senior advisory team

Left to right: Professor Dr. Leonardo Manfrianni of Pilatus Aircraft, Dr. Jean-Christophe Zuffrey of senseFly, and Dr. Pierluigi Capone of AugustWestland flight control laws.

This Announcement also comes with a statement from Dufour saying that The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm recently conducted a performance review of the aEro2’s design, which confirmed its stability with at least 10% safety margin across all modes of flight.

Dufour is also closely working on its R&D projects with ETH Zürich and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences to “further develop Dufour’s tilt-wing aircraft propulsion, control systems, and human-machine interfaces”.

Among the notable members of the Senior Advisory team is Dr. Jean-Christophe Zufferey, who is the co-founder and former CEO of senseFly, which developed a series of fixed-wing drones for various commercial mapping needs including agriculture, construction, environmental protection, and mining. Drones made by sureFly can fly up to 90 minutes at altitudes up to 400 ft. SureFly is now a subsidiary of the Parrot Group.

Dufour Aerospace hires senseFly Cofounder

senseFly’s long-distance drone offerings

Also significant on the advisory team is Dr. Leonardo Manfriani, former chief aerodynamicist at Pilatus Aircraft. Pilatus is a leading developer of private aircraft ranging from trainer planes to passenger jets. Having Manfriani on the senior advisory will greatly help Dufour reach its goal of a 2020 fuselage build.

Dufour takes on chief aerodynamicist at Pilatus

An example of some of the aircraft built by Pilatus

Why it’s important: With the formation of its new senior advisory team, Dufour continues to grow. In early September, it hired test pilot Damian Hischier, who has extensive experience in testing new aircraft. The new senior advisory team further validates the aEro2 concept, and builds momentum for Dufour.

NASA and Booz: The Joint Projection of Urban Aviation’s Future

15 November 2018 || 9 min read

NASA and Booz’s Executive Brief in Detail NASA and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton released a joint study on November 12 that outlined future projections of the urban aviation industry. The original executive briefing was presented on October 5th to NASA’s Aeronautics Research Directorate. Before we go into the details of the study, here are some of the key takeaways:...

NASA and Booz: The Joint Projection of Urban Aviation’s Future

15 November 2018 || 9 min read

NASA and Booz’s Executive Brief in Detail

NASA and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton released a joint study on November 12 that outlined future projections of the urban aviation industry. The original executive briefing was presented on October 5th to NASA’s Aeronautics Research Directorate. Before we go into the details of the study, here are some of the key takeaways:

Airport Shuttle and Air Taxi markets have a total addressable market of over $500 Billion
Air Ambulance services are not practical due to technology constraints – but hybrid aircraft may provide feasible alternatives
Legal, regulatory, weather, public perception, and infrastructure hurdles exist
0.5% of the TAM, or $2.5 Billion, could be captured in the near term
Constraints may be eased by government partnerships, industry collaboration, industry commitment, and existing legal and regulatory enablers

NASA and Booz Cited a few Key Trends for the UAM Industry, Including GPS Accuracy Improvements and AI Autonomy Advances

That’s the Summary. Here are the details.

A Strategic Advisory Group, or SAG, was assembled from prominent figures in the UAM, transportation, government regulations, infrastructures, public policy, and insurance disciplines – the SAG serves as an invaluable resource that enabled the information and advice of experts in their respective disciplines to offer their work and research toward answering some of the most pressing issues in the path towards wide spread UAM application. The study analyzed the following key components, each of which will be detailed below:

Market Selection
Legal and Regulatory
Societal Barriers
Weather Analysis
Market Analysis

Market Selection

The study focused on a consortium of 10 cities across the United States to represent the larger industry.

NASA and Booz selected 10 cities in the US for their market analysis

Of potential interest in the selection of these 10 cities (and one city that has not been considered as heavily in the past) was that of Denver. Other cities that were selected, such as Los Angeles and Miami, have already been under consideration by real estate development companies and technology firm UAM development plans. However, the selection of Denver in this study is important – Denver has the potential for the lowest portion of air taxi shuttle trips within the FAA’s National Airspace System (NAS), which balances the perspective of a mostly urban-dominated, completely NAS-immersed UAM operating environment.

Legal and Regulatory

The largest legal and regulatory challenges that have the potential to slow urban aviation are regulations that already exist. In general, the framework for certifying aircraft already exists, but there are numerous legal barriers and gaps in the path to certification for some aircraft that may be classified as rotorcraft/mixed propulsion. Similarly, determining which regulations apply to what component(s) of air taxis is another challenge that has not yet been answered. Finally, system redundancy and failure management are critical safety considerations that will not be amended whatsoever for the sake of introducing a new type of aircraft such as an air taxi.

Fortunately, there are answers on the horizon to these challenges; for instance, ballistic parachute recovery systems are being developed for UAM systems. Additionally, the summary also cited that voluntary self-regulation (or even proposal of standards) may help to advance the regulatory process faster than relying solely on federal and state governments.

Societal Barriers

The largest concerns from the audience surveyed in this study (both younger persons aged 18-29 and older persons aged over 50) focused on credibility of pilots and the manufacturers of the aircraft. In general, those pilots/companies who were older attained a higher level of perceived experience, but gender and racial bias also played a role in affecting a passenger’s comfort with boarding a given flight. Passengers preferred intra-city hops instead of inter-city trips, and surprisingly, accepted a “hybrid flight deck” configuration where one pilot was onboard and the other “pilot” was automated.

Weather Analysis

Interestingly, the study also analyzed the position of weather in effecting UAM operations, and how in some locales the weather has enough of an adverse effect on air taxi services that their application could be placed in jeopardy. In general, cities in the Western United States had favorably weather, with the exception of impacts due to potential low visibility, high temperatures, and strong surface winds during summer thunderstorms. Cities like San Francisco suffer during the summer mornings when low-lying fog banks generate IFR conditions.

The weather has a greater effect on UAM than previously expected – here’s an example of the effects on UAM operations in San Francisco

In the Eastern United States, storms and low visibility are the primary limiting factors, especially during summer afternoons. In areas such as Texas, low level wind shear, high temperatures, and storms have large impact potential to UAM operations, storms in the summer, and low visibility in the winter. While the summary did not expound further, expect more details in the full report – and also an overview of just how much the TAM may be reduced by seasonal weather shifts.

Market Analysis

A Monte Carlo analysis was performed under a range of constraints to determine max usabilities – constraints involving customer’s willingness to pay, infrastructure limited, time of day limited, weather limited, and unconstrained scenarios. After performing these analyses, it was determined that only ~0.5% of unconstrained trips were captured after all other constraints were applied. This figure translates the $500 Billion as mentioned originally to the $2.5 Billion TAM. While the UAM market itself provides a lucrative magnitude of TAM, it is not without competitors – such as autonomous cars.

Additionally, analyses were conducted to determine the cost of air ambulance transports. After 10,000 iterations of this analysis, the estimated cost for an average trip was $9,000 for an eVTOL, and $9,800 for a hybrid – compared to $10,000 for that of a conventional helicopter transport. While there is a potential cost savings and practical benefit to eVTOLS as air ambulances (potential lives saved) the operational proficiency for eVTOLs will require time to establish – time that helicopters have had to demonstrate their applicability in situations that require extreme consistency. Another important consideration is the return time for an eVTOL, which is much higher than helicopters. While helicopters can be fueled with Jet-A in a matter of minutes, the charging technology for eVTOL’s is still not completely matured.

Key Takeaways

The best case scenario for air shuttle and air ambulance services includes a TAM of $500 Billion. In the near term, 5-seat eVTOL’s will cost ~$6.25 per passenger mile to operate. The high cost of infrastructure (and the current availability of infrastructure) are both large hurdles to overcome. Legal and regulatory analysis found that the air taxi, air ambulance, and air shuttle markets all face similar barriers. Additionally, psychological analysis and market surveys have proven that the general public is much more likely to board a piloted aircraft than an autonomous one. Finally, weather is a larger influencer in the applicability of air shuttle services than the industry has previously considered.

Why it’s Important: The joint Executive Summary between NASA and Booz Allen Hamilton has underscored many of the points made by numerous other consulting studies – but it also includes new considerations that will be important for the future development of the UAM industry, including the effects of return time for air ambulance operations and the effects of weather on all three markets. Stay tuned for the release of the full study and increased details on each of the topics addressed in the executive summary. The study emphasizes that a market of $2.5 billion may be reached in the short term (even after all the constraints are applied to market modeling) which is a large enough magnitude to continue to sustain the level of interest and dedication toward making this industry commercially operational in about five years.

NASA Partners with NextNav for Future Air Taxi Navigation Software

14 November 2018 || 3 min read

After its recent Urban Air Mobility Industry Day November 1st-2nd, NASA has announced its partnership with NextNav, a three dimensional mapping software.Unlike most traditional location services, maps by NextNav offer vertical accuracy as well as traditional GPS positioning. NASA plans to utilize NextNav’s Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS) as part of its testing efforts at its research center in Langley Virginia....

NASA Partners with NextNav for Future Air Taxi Navigation Software

14 November 2018 || 3 min read

NASA’s research center in Langley is named CERTAIN–City Environment for Range Testing of Autonomous Integrated Navigation. This space is designed to test all varieties of vertical lift technologies ranging from delivery drones to passenger air taxis.

An image of UAS Testing at NASA' CERTAIN urban air mobility testing location

An image of UAS testing at CERTAIN

NextNav’s Metropolitan Beacon System also makes itself unique by offering vehicle tracking in areas where GPS signal may not be available. The software itself is built around safely and reliably managing urban air mobility operations. The 3D geolocation location service also offers unique visualization of airspaces.

Rather than through satellites as with GPS, the NextNav Metropolitan Beacon System works through a series of transmitting beacons strategically positioned around urban areas to give a level of accuracy and reliability that GPS cannot provide:

“The MBS system is designed for secure, reliable and consistent 3D geolocation capabilities, which are important for autonomous systems” –Ganesh Pattabiraman, Co-founder and CEO of NextNav

While NextNav provides technology for geolocation, other companies like AirMap aim to provide air space management software for future urban air mobility infrastructure. AirMap, is a Santa Monica based startup which has raised $26 million in Series B funding and has been selected as the Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) provider for the U.S’s first drone corridor. The company has been providing flight planning services for recreational and commercial drone operators since its founding in 2014.

Why it’s important: As NASA further builds its repertoire of technologies, urban air mobility services become closer and closer to reality. Although the FAA provides final certification for aircraft, NASA has been a driving force behind developing safety standards for these technologies. While CERTAIN may only run tests on UAV vehicles, testing on passenger VTOLs is not far behind.

Tesla Batteries Won’t Work for Urban Aviation: A First Principles Approach

13 November 2018 || 10 min read

They’re Great for Cars, But Not so Much Urban Aviation Over the last 20 years, batteries have been one of the slowest developed hardware components in the world. Solar power, advanced materials, and next generation manufacturing processes have all sparked new business and provided the technological momentum to create new industries. All but the battery. In order for the Urban...

Tesla Batteries Won’t Work for Urban Aviation: A First Principles Approach

13 November 2018 || 10 min read

They’re Great for Cars, But Not so Much Urban Aviation

Over the last 20 years, batteries have been one of the slowest developed hardware components in the world. Solar power, advanced materials, and next generation manufacturing processes have all sparked new business and provided the technological momentum to create new industries. All but the battery. In order for the Urban Air Mobility industry to accomplish the major tenet of environmental sustainability, battery tech needs to catch up. So why the lag? And how have companies like Tesla and Faraday Future been able to bring their products to market despite the challenges that battery technology provides?

The duFour aEro2: an example of a conceptual electric urban aviation vehicle.

The Current State of Battery Technology

To understand why the Urban Air Mobility industry is still 10 years from being completely electric, the current state of battery technology should be understood. The key metric for any battery is energy density – the amount of energy that can be stored in a given volume. The higher the density, the smaller the battery required for a certain amount of energy, or the more energy that can be stored in the same amount of space. To “optimize” battery tech, energy density must be maximized. However, unlike Moore’s law (in which processor power, or components per function, increases exponentially with time) battery energy density has seen a meager 3% increase in energy density year over year.

Just 3% in Energy Density Increase Per Year.

There are a couple types of batteries that have widespread application – Lithium Ion and Alkaline. While Alkaline is used in virtually all household batteries, its energy density is much lower than that of the Lithium Ion batteries (by about 200x) – but Alkaline batteries are much safer than Li-Ion batteries, which have a nasty habit of being impossible to extinguish should they combust. Most electric transportation applications require a large amount of energy, and so virtually all use Li-Ion batteries to take advantage of the greater energy density while accepting the safety risk. But, Li-Ion energy density is still too low; the required density for flying transportation modes is much higher than driving applications because weight is at a premium.

Surely the world can do better – so why haven’t we?

Similar Industries: Tesla & Trucks

Tesla (and more recently Faraday Future) have been able to market electric vehicles effectively because they’ve capitalized on Lithium Ion batteries with energy densities reported to be around 900Wh/L, or 250 Wh/kg. [1] For reference, an Alkaline AA battery holds about 4 Wh of energy [2] with a corresponding energy density of 700Wh/L. While this comparison illustrates how much higher the energy density of Li-Ion batteries is compared to that of Alkaline batteries, the quantity of energy required for an electric vehicle is still staggering. A Tesla Model S boasts fast acceleration and performance, but what many fail to realize is that the vehicle itself weighs almost 1,000 lbs more than any similar sedan with an internal combustion engine (mostly due to battery weight). 900 Wh/L is “good enough” for road applications because higher weights are acceptable. However, an electric vehicle in flight demands the minimum weight possible. How much farther must energy density be increased for batteries to become a practical source of aerial energy? The answer is simple: a comparable power to a Tesla Model S is required, but at 80% of the current weight of the Tesla battery packs (which is about 1,200lbs) – more on how we arrived at that figure later. For comparison, the Volocopter weighs 996 lbs – less than the total weight of the Tesla battery packs. Fortunately, the Volocopter (and other UAM solutions) require less than 1,200 lbs, or 85kWh, of power, but weight is still at an absolute premium.

A Tesla P90D’s battery pack weighs more than the entire Volocopter VC200

Before we address this ultimate goal of the feasibility of battery power in the urban aviation industry, we’ll turn to a different industry that’s familiar to many: consumer drones.

The Drone Industry

One hybrid industry that provides a bridge between aviation and electric transportation is the recreational drone industry. Drones are little more than battery packs with any number of brushless electric motors powering small propellers at each corner of the device; oftentimes four are used to aid in stability. UAM solutions are much larger and more complex – but the physics of the energy required to stay aloft remain the same in both cases. For instance, the DJI Mavic Pro weighs 734g and can stay aloft for 31 minutes using a 46Wh battery, which is a typical capacity for a small drone. To condense these statistics into one comparable unit, like kg/Wh, we get 0.03. This number doesn’t mean much on its own, but if the weight of the aircraft is multiplied by the time aloft desired, a rough estimate of the total energy required may be obtained.

Drones like the DJI Mavic Pro provide a good segway from batteries and remote control airplanes to urban aviation

An important note – using different propeller sizes and energy conservation assumptions will yield different quantities of energy required; this is just a simplified first principles approach.

The UAM Industry

So how much power would a vehicle like the Volocopter require to fly for one hour? Using the kg/Wh factor of 0.03 to solve for this figure the Volocopter would conservatively need 14kWh of power. Remember back to the Tesla example – the Model S batteries have a capacity of 85kWh (6 times greater than that of the Volocopter) but at a weight of 1,200lbs. So if the Model S batteries were removed and 1/6th of the cores were installed on a UAM, they would represent a 200lb weight – which is more than 20% of the weight of the entire aircraft.

Would a Tesla P90D battery work for urban aviation? Most likely, no.

Roadblocks

This 20% figure doesn’t sound high, but when you compare the energy in that 200lbs of weight (14kWh or 50.3 Megajoules) to the energy stored in 200lbs of Jet-A (4126 Megajoules) it quickly becomes apparent that Jet-A has prevailed for so many years because of its extremely high energy content.

While Jet-A fuel is a less desirable fuel in terms of environmental impact, its energy density is far superior to almost every other energy source.

Advantages

But this doesn’t mean that it’s not possible for batteries to be “good enough”. Fortunately, aerodynamic innovations mean that matching the energy density of Jet-A is not required; batteries can do good enough with their own lower energy density, and with the added benefit of zero emissions, which is a huge win over Jet-A fuel. The magical 80% figure mentioned in the first comparison of Tesla batteries’ applicability to the UAM industry is critical because, in general, a 20% weight reduction of the battery pack alone would free up enough weight for additional energy storage, baggage capacity, or avionics and flight hardware. This would reduce the 200lb Volocopter battery to 160lbs (or just 16% of the total weight of the aircraft) and would allow energy density to scale to the third power since the reduction in volume for a reduction of weight is not linearly proportional. The 20% reduction, or 80% capacity rule is a benchmark to chase.

In Conclusion

How realistic would it be to achieve this reduction in weight; this increase in energy density? At the current rate of battery technology advancement, about 7 years. Is this soon enough? Many would say yes, but the bigger concern is not being addressed: how long will it take battery technology to achieve 30% and 40% reductions, or progress to the point where the energy capacity of Jet-A is challenged? The next 7 years will be a true barometer of success, and small scale demonstrations of battery technology in people-carrying Urban Air Mobility situations will help increase the general awareness of the advantages of electric aerial transportation. Eventually the time will come for more than 3% per year, but only once a larger audience realizes the potential benefit.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Opens Center for Mobility with Vertical Lift

12 November 2018 || 3 min read

The goal of Rensselaer’s latest research center is to pursue cutting-edge research in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft technologies. Earlier this month, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) held a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Uber Elevate Director of Engineering Mark Moore, as well as representatives from Terrafugia, Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Bell. While the opening of RPI MOVE...

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Opens Center for Mobility with Vertical Lift

12 November 2018 || 3 min read

The goal of Rensselaer’s latest research center is to pursue cutting-edge research in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft technologies.

Earlier this month, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) held a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Uber Elevate Director of Engineering Mark Moore, as well as representatives from Terrafugia, Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Bell.

RPI Invites Uber Elevate Director of Engineering Mark Moore to RPI MOVE opening

Uber Elevates, “eCRM” models

While the opening of RPI MOVE is partly driven by interest in vertical lift technologies from the Department of Defense, the director of the new center Farhan Gandhi higlights the “tremendous buzz” around eVTOLs. Ghandi believes that the use of distributed electric propulsion, as well as autonomous operation could “completely change the mobility paradigm.”

RPI MOVE Director Professor Farhan Gandhi

“Enabled by the use of distributed electric propulsion, with piloted as well as autonomous operation, eVTOL aircraft have the potential to completely change the mobility paradigm.”–RPI MOVE Director Professor Farhan Gandhi

MOVE has already acquired 21 Ph.D. students and is working on projects having to do with VTOL aeromechanics, multi-copters, advanced VTOL configurations, control and autonomy, flying qualities, diagnostics and structural health monitoring, computational fluid dynamics, experimental aerodynamics, nano-materials, and design optimization.

In short, RPI MOVE is designed to be an innovation hub producing students with unique technological knowledge for VTOLS and a wide range of innovative VTOL projects.

RPI MOVE’s first class posing with a Black Hawk helicopter

RPI has already started releasing educational material, including the “Dawn of eVTOL” speech by Mark Moore, the “The Electric VTOL Revolution” kickoff presentation from the Vertical Flight Society , and the “Electric VTOL: Current Status & Technical Challenges” panel featuring representatives from Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences, Terrafugia, and Bell.

Why it’s important: The creation of the RPI MOVE center speaks to the future growth of the eVTOL industry. As more and more eVTOL developers begin to emerge, there will be more and more demand for graduates with expertise in Vertical Lift. Rensselaer has recognized this by forming MOVE.

Lilium Adds Former Executives From Airbus and Audi

11 November 2018 || 5 min read

The Lilium air taxi is getting closer to market. It recently hired Mirko Reuter, former head of Automated Driving at Audi, Jakob Waeschenbach, former head of Equipment Installation at Airbus, and Rochus Moenter, former Vice President of Finance and Leasing at Airbus. Lilium is a German company based out of Munich. Its air taxi design is one of the sleekest on the market, and...

Lilium Adds Former Executives From Airbus and Audi

11 November 2018 || 5 min read

Lilium is a German company based out of Munich. Its air taxi design is one of the sleekest on the market, and with over $90 million in funding achieved just last year, its well on its way to being one of the world’s first on demand air taxis.

Mirko Reuter, the new Head of Autonomous Flight at Lilium, was formerly the Head of Automated Driving at Audi. There, he led the development of all automated driving functions, as well as the development of vehicle platforms technologies and future vehicle concepts. At Lilium, he will be responsible for the process of developing the technologies necessarily to bring autonomous flights completely to market.

Lilium hires Mirko Reuter, former head of autonomous driving at Audi

“I am deeply committed to our mission of creating a revolutionary service that enables effective and affordable transportation that is widely used among all sectors of society. At Lilium, we are building a new and revolutionary way of transport, and I am very excited to be a part of it.” -Mikro Router

Jakob Waeschenbach, formerly the Head of Equipment Installation at Airbus, will be the new Head of Aircraft Assembly at Lilium. Waeschenbach spent years at Airbus ensuring quality in manufacturing, engineering, logistics, supply chain and finance. He also developed Airbus’s new and certified production line of the Single Aisle Family of aircraft. At Lilium, he will “lead the convergence between aircraft and automotive production”, and will assist in establish Lilium’s first production facility.

Lilium's new head of Aircraft Assembly Jakob Waeschenbac

“I am thrilled to shape the early stages of merging automotive and aircraft production to finally change travelling and commuting in urban spaces. Catching onto this unique momentum is incredibly exciting.” -Jakob Waeschenbach,

Lilium will also be adding Roechus Moenter, who was the former Vice President of Airbus’s Finance and Leasing Group. Moenter will be the General Counsel and Head of Legal for Lilium.

The company is unique in that it plans to be a direct competitor to UberAir. Like Uber Elevate, it plans to roll out its services in 2025. Unlike many of the current eVTOL developers on the market, Lilium has not sought to become a partner for Uber, and instead has opted to develop its own operations and front-end service. Potential routes are Manhattan to JFK and Paris to London.

As a reminder, the Lilium is a eVTOL featuring tilted duct-fans that can travel at speeds up to 300km/h with a 300km range. It’s design features a total of 18 integrated jet engines that can seamlessly transition from horizontal to Vertical flight. Lilium completed it’s maiden flight in April 2017, and Lilium plans to complete it’s first manned test flight in 2019. Read more about the Lilium eVTOL.

Why it’s important:

With this major hire from two big players in vehicle innovation and production, Lilium further marks it’s place as main competitor for air taxi services. With Uber as one of the other biggest companies in the space, Lilium needs to be doing everything it can to put itself at the forefront of the industry, as conveyed by Lilium CEO and co-founder:

“To bring the best talent to Lilium has always been our goal. We are delighted to welcome such a high calibre of new team members that will bring a wealth of expertise in key strategic areas to our growing company and further enable our vision.”

Hoversurf Has a New CEO and is Training Police on Hoverbikes in Dubai

09 November 2018 || 3 min read

A few weeks after delivering its first S3 Hoverbike to the Dubai Police, Hoversurf has transitioned its leadership to new CEO Steve Weinstein. Weinstein has been with Hoversurf as its Strategic Advisor since early 2018. During the year, he led Hoversurf’s partnerships with aerospace and fabrication companies, and has been raising awareness for the Series A funding round, which will...

Hoversurf Has a New CEO and is Training Police on Hoverbikes in Dubai

09 November 2018 || 3 min read

A few weeks after delivering its first S3 Hoverbike to the Dubai Police, Hoversurf has transitioned its leadership to new CEO Steve Weinstein.

Weinstein has been with Hoversurf as its Strategic Advisor since early 2018. During the year, he led Hoversurf’s partnerships with aerospace and fabrication companies, and has been raising awareness for the Series A funding round, which will focus on raising funds for Hoversurf’s two and four seat eVTOL.

Rendering of what the Hoversurf eVTOL may look like

In the past month, Hoversurf hit a huge milestone by delivering the first production S3 Hoverbike to the Dubai Police. This delivery fulfills an agreement between the Dubai Government and Hoversurf back in 2017 to give the Dubai police exclusive ordering rights.

The Dubai Police have already hired two crews to begin training on the hoverbike. Brigadier Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, general director of the Dubai Police’s artificial intelligence department, envisions that the eVTOL vehicle will be used as a first responder unit to access hard to reach areas. He plans for the hoverbikes to go into service in 2020.

Alex Atamanov, founder and former CEO of Hoversurf, said, “there is no better person to lead our company and its vision than Steve Weinstein. His vision is perfectly in line with that of our company mission.”

In addition to his years at Hoversurf, Weinstein has years of experience as both an air force and commercial pilot. He has also held previous positions advising Fortune 500 Technology companies.

Steve Weinstein is both a former air force pilot and advisor for Fortune 500 technology companies

Hoversurf is currently selling the S3 Hoverbike to consumers for $150,000. The aircraft requires no pilots license, but Hoversurf will have a screening process for buyers to make sure they can handle the vehicle responsibly. The S3 has a top speed of 60mph and a recommended cruising altitude of 5 meters. Learn more about the Hoversurf S3.

Why it’s important: With it’s sale to the Dubai Police, Hoversurf has become one of the first companies to break into the production stage of eVTOL development. It’s also one of the first to offer its vehicle to the public. Hoversurf’s progress indicates great future success potential for the eVTOL market, and the first of its consumer sales will most likely also help inspire public confidence in eVTOLs.

Bell Adds Electric Power Systems as a Partner for its Air Taxi

08 November 2018 || 4 min read

Bell has added yet another company to its growing list of partners for the Bell Air Taxi project. This time, it’s Electric Power Systems (EPS). Bell’s original design for the air taxi was full electric, but since further feasibility analysis, it has made the switch to hybrid electric. Bell also made this move to try to stick to its goal...

Bell Adds Electric Power Systems as a Partner for its Air Taxi

08 November 2018 || 4 min read

Bell has added yet another company to its growing list of partners for the Bell Air Taxi project. This time, it’s Electric Power Systems (EPS).

Bell’s original design for the air taxi was full electric, but since further feasibility analysis, it has made the switch to hybrid electric. Bell also made this move to try to stick to its goal of multi-city testing by 2020.

Electric Power systems is a wide team of consulting engineers with years of experience in design, construction, and periodic maintenance of electric power supply systems. By partnering with EPS, Bell hopes to create the most cost-efficient and reliable battery management system for the upcoming Bell Air Taxi. Said Scott Brennan, Bell’s Vice President of Innovation:

“This collaboration with EPS is intended to further enhance the safety and performance of our aircraft through unique power storage capabilities”

Bell’s Mockup of the Air Taxi’s Control Panel

“As we forge relationships with new teammates, we move one step closer to bringing viable urban air mobility to the everyday commuter.”-Scott Drennan, Bell Vice President of Innovation.

…

As a reminder, Bell is one of the partners for Uber Elevate on the UberAir project. Bell will also be working with Safran for the Air Taxi’s hybrid propulsion system, Garmin for autonomous vehicle management, and Thales for flight control system avionics.

Bell has yet remained somewhat secretive about its air taxi design. While many companies have released mockups and even flight demonstrations of their air taxi concepts, Bell has chosen only to show the interior of the aircraft, saying that for now it would like to keep its propulsion design to itself. However, the air taxi interior shows a very futuristic design featuring augmented reality and a control panel completely made up of screens. Read more about the Bell Air Taxi.

A visual from the VR demonstration of Bell’s Air Taxi experience

Why it’s important: Although Uber Elevate has announced Bell as one of its contractors for UberAir, it will also work with Karem Aircraft, Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences, Embraer, and Pipistrel Aircraft. According to Elevate’s website, Uber will work with all of these companies to develop its own (initially piloted) aircraft. It’s still a little unclear how all these companies are working with Uber, but the fact that Bell has consistently been adding more and more partners may suggest that it will be the main producer of UberAir VTOLs. Regardless, Uber is aiming for a strict 2023 operations launch, and will begin flight testing in 2020.

NASA holds Urban Air Mobility Industry Day in Seattle

07 November 2018 || 4 min read

On Nov 1-2nd in Seattle, NASA held an Industry Day to prepare over 400 stakeholders for its upcoming Urban Air Mobility ‘Grand Challenges’. With this Industry Day, NASA hopes to connect itself with the wider industry, and to prepare all stakeholders for the first Grand Challenge, which will take place in 2020. The Grand Challenges are partly aimed at inspiring...

NASA holds Urban Air Mobility Industry Day in Seattle

07 November 2018 || 4 min read

On Nov 1-2nd in Seattle, NASA held an Industry Day to prepare over 400 stakeholders for its upcoming Urban Air Mobility ‘Grand Challenges’.

With this Industry Day, NASA hopes to connect itself with the wider industry, and to prepare all stakeholders for the first Grand Challenge, which will take place in 2020.

The Grand Challenges are partly aimed at inspiring the public, but will also put aircraft designs to the test in a wide variety of flight test scenarios including bulked landings, certain weather conditions, emergency landing situations, lost communications links, and normal operational flight.

NASA Urban Air Mobility Industry Day vision

Once vehicles have been approved for the challenge, NASA hopes that the event will lead for a regulatory framework for eventual certification. This both drives the industry forward, and means that any vehicle manufacturer who wants eventual certification should be at the 2020 Grand Challenge.

Manufacturer/Designers still have until November 16th to submit the NASA Grand Challenge Request for Information (RFI) if they wish to participate in Grand Challenge 1.

Partipant at the NASAA Urban Air Mobility Industry Day–The Bartinini Flying Car.

Guests at the November Industry Day also included companies developing key onboard systems, such as electric propulsion, detect and avoid or command and control; and providers of air traffic management systems for UAM aircraft operating over urban areas. NASA did not directly speak to how the Grand Challenge series compares to efforts like Uber Elevate, but NASA will be at the heart of certification and regulation issues.

In collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting, NASA believes that by 2030, there will be as many as 500 million flights a year for package delivery services and 750 million flights a year for air metro services.

Why it’s important: With many efforts to push the UAM industry forward, it’s can be hard to understand why having such a wide range of them is important. Right now, the two biggest industry-gathering efforts are from Uber Elevate and NASA. It’s important to note that these two organizations serve different purposes: Uber most likely seeks like to streamline the business execution of VTOLs for the public, while NASA most likely seeks more to provide a baseline for safety and push for certification. Ultimately, it’s important for anyone wishing to be in the industry to fully understand both sides.

The Terrafugia TF-2 Concept Video

06 November 2018 || 4 min read

The Terrafugia TF-2 is a unique concept transportation solution featuring a passenger pod or cargo pod that switches between road and air transport. In the air, the Terrafugia TF-2 is a large hybrid-electric VTOL with a fixed wing, and capacity of up to four passengers or 1400lbs of cargo. On the ground, it looks surprisingly similar to a futuristic city...

The Terrafugia TF-2 Concept Video

06 November 2018 || 4 min read

The Terrafugia TF-2 is a unique concept transportation solution featuring a passenger pod or cargo pod that switches between road and air transport.

In the air, the Terrafugia TF-2 is a large hybrid-electric VTOL with a fixed wing, and capacity of up to four passengers or 1400lbs of cargo. On the ground, it looks surprisingly similar to a futuristic city bus.

Terrafugia describes the TF-2 as: “a three part transportation system consisting of a passenger or cargo cabin that is transported by an air vehicle and a road vehicle. The system is therefore able to take you almost anywhere, from origin to final destination.”

The T-F2 video has gained about 1,500 new views since Terrafugia reposted the video on Youtube October 19th. According to Terrafugia, the TF-2 will have a maximum range of 185 miles, and a top speed of about 150mph.

Terrafugia has been developing its Transition flying car for over a decade. The Transition’s wings fold to become as flush as possible with the body when the car is on the ground, and unfold for flight. Based in New England, Terrafugia was purchased by Volvo’s Chinese parent company, Geely, in 2017. Terrafugia has already begun taking orders for the Transition, which is priced around $300,000

Terrafugia’s ‘Transition’ Flying Car

The Terrafugia TF-2 design is one of only two major modular designs on the market. The other is Airbus’s Pop.Up, which is a similar but smaller version of the TF-2 design. While the TF-2 may be the future option for high capacity modular VTOL systems, the AirPop.Up design is more versatile due its smaller size and so might be better utilized for dense urban environments.

Terrafugia TF-2 Competitor Airbus Pop.Up

Airbus’s Pop.Up Next design

Airbus has also began prototyping and flight testing the ‘Airbus Vahana’, an eVTOL that has a fixed wing but no ground transportation mode. It’s still unclear whether airbus will follow through with the Pop.Up next, the Vahana, or both.

Terrafugia is also working on development of the Terrafugia TF-X, although it now only features the TF-2 and the Transition in the main features of its website, suggesting that it will focus on the TF-2 moving forward. The TF-X is a personal VTOL capable of driving on city streets with a proposed range of 500 miles.

Terrafugia’s TF-X design

Why it’s important: The development of the Terrafugia TF-2 futher proves the coming segmentation of the future VTOL market. While the Airbus Pop.Up design will work for more confined spaces and is likely to be used for short range trips across congested cities, the TF-2’s fixed wing makes it more efficient, allowing it to carry multiple passengers for greater distances.

Former Airbus CTO Jean Botti Is Developing A New Electric Airplane

05 November 2018 || 4 min read

Jean Botti, former CTO of Airbus Group, joined the TransportUP podcast last week detail his journey founding VoltAero, a company that is developing a general aviation-sized hybrid electric airplane capable of flights up to 3.5 hours. According to Botti, the vision of his company is to provide alternatives to Cessna or Cirrus aircraft. Those companies offer similar sized general aviation...

Former Airbus CTO Jean Botti Is Developing A New Electric Airplane

05 November 2018 || 4 min read

According to Botti, the vision of his company is to provide alternatives to Cessna or Cirrus aircraft. Those companies offer similar sized general aviation aircraft, but do not design or manufactur electric or hybrid electric versions. The main competitive features of the aircraft, slated to be named “Cassio” are safety, low noise, and fuel efficiency.

Take off and landing will be run completely on electrical power. The plane will only use its traditional thermal engine as a generator to create supplemental electricity during cruise. The generator will also run as a back up in case of an emergency situation during take-off or landing.

In 2015, Botti led Airbus’s E-Fan project, a fully electric lightweight airplane which successfully flew for 47 consecutive minutes over the english channel. However, when Botti left Airbus to found VoltAero in early 2018, he decided to make a dual-energy airplane to create the safest aircraft possible.

The eventual goal of VoltAero is to create a suite of 4-9 seat aircraft that can be used by private owners, air taxi/charter companies, commercial flights for point-to-point regional travel, and for use in other utility-category applications. At full scale, VoltAero expects to manufacture 150 of the new aircraft per year.

Deliveries of production aircraft are expected to begin during the 2021-2022 timeframe from VoltAero’s final assembly facility in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region of southwest France.

Voltaero team Jean Botti and Didier Esteyne posing with the Airbus E-FAN

Jean Botti and Co-founder Didier Esteyne

You can learn more from Jean Botti in our recent podcast!

Why it’s Important: VoltAero is on the forefront of electric power for general aviation aircraft. While the Cassio does need a thermal engine as a generator, it can be fully electric once battery technology enables higher energy storage. Advancements for this kind of electric flight tech mean huge steps for the Urban Aviation industry. Better tech as is being developed by VoltAero is going to be highly desired by every urban air taxi operator looking for higher ranges and safety options.

DARPA Tests Semi-Autonomous Sikorsky Helicopter

02 November 2018 || 3 min read

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently flight-demonstrated a modified Sikorsky S-76B helicopter with impressive semi-autonomous capabilities. The ALIAS system, which stands for Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, made its first manned flight on October 17th 2018. This flight was named as ‘optionally manned’, indicating the potential for full autonomy of the modified Sikorsky-76B. The goal of the ALIAS...

DARPA Tests Semi-Autonomous Sikorsky Helicopter

02 November 2018 || 3 min read

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently flight-demonstrated a modified Sikorsky S-76B helicopter with impressive semi-autonomous capabilities.

The ALIAS system, which stands for Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, made its first manned flight on October 17th 2018. This flight was named as ‘optionally manned’, indicating the potential for full autonomy of the modified Sikorsky-76B.

The goal of the ALIAS System is to reduce the workload on pilots and provide a failsafe in case of an emergency. With the new Matrix Technology installed, pilots can program missions using a hand-held tablet computer. During the recent flight, the Autonomy Research Aircraft showcased its ability to take-off and land completely autonomously, fly while avoiding obstacles, and automatically determine safe landing zones.

“The reason this type of technology is important, is to reduce workload, the piloting workload and let the mission crews concentrate on what they’re really there to do, which is to either execute the MEDEVAC [medical evacuation], the close air support mission, or whatever they’re there to do,”–Dave Braden, Program Manager for the U.S. Marine Corps’ portion of the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program.

Unmanned testing of the aircraft this October came four years after DARPA began work on the project in 2014 in collaboration with Aurora Flight Sciences. Aurora’s solution to a computerized co-pilot placed a mechanical arm in the cockpit that could be retro-fitted to any aircraft.

Aurora Flight Sciences ultimately left the DARPA project to join Boeing on building it’s upcoming passenger air taxi. The Boeing/Aurora team is now one of the main partners working with Uber Elevate to begin flight testing it’s vehicles in major cities like LA and Dallas by 2020. CEO of Boeing Dennis Muilenberg claims that Boeing’s air taxi prototype should be in the air the next year. Read more news about the latest Boeing passenger VTOL updates.

Why it’s important: Although Sikorsky’s recent test is military rather than commercial, it proves the viability of autonomous aircraft. Often throughout history, technology has been developed and used by the military before being accepted and integrated into public use. Such was the case with a great deal of the technology we see in today’s commercial airlines. Ultimately, progress in military VTOL autonomy is likely to mean progress for on-demand urban air mobility aircraft as well.

XTI Aircraft Sells to Brazil’s Largest Private Jet Charter Company

01 November 2018 || 4 min read

On October 17th, XTI Aircraft announced the sale of one of its TriFan 600 aircraft to Sáo Paulo’s Icon Aviation. Icon Aviation is the largest business aircraft operator in South America. Its fleet consists of 30 private jets, as well as a range of helicopters. The order from Icon also comes with options for Icon to purchase an undisclosed number...

XTI Aircraft Sells to Brazil’s Largest Private Jet Charter Company

01 November 2018 || 4 min read

On October 17th, XTI Aircraft announced the sale of one of its TriFan 600 aircraft to Sáo Paulo’s Icon Aviation.

Icon Aviation is the largest business aircraft operator in South America. Its fleet consists of 30 private jets, as well as a range of helicopters. The order from Icon also comes with options for Icon to purchase an undisclosed number of additional aircraft.

Icon Aviation’s luxury air travel services

The order from Icon is XTI’s 64th pre-sale of the TriFan 600. This represents a total of about $416 million in gross revenues upon delivery.

The XTI TriFan 600 was built with the vision of creating a luxury private jet that could provide the same vertical take-off and landing benefits as a helicopter. Unlike many shorter range eVTOLs, the hybrid electric system in the TriFan gives it a top speed of 345mph with a range of 1,200 miles. The TriFan’s rotating fans allow it to land anywhere, and help it reach a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet in just ten minutes. Learn more about the TriFan 600.

Icon Aviation and XTI plan on partnering for the marketing and sales of the TriFan 600, with the twin goals of promoting the TriFan and expanding the business of Icon. Says Icon CEO Décio Galvão: “Icon and XTI have established a long-term relationship to collaborate on joint expansion of our respective businesses.”

Galvão hopes that the addition of the TriFan 600 will set Icon at the forefront of the growing luxury air travel industry. In the announcement of the sale, he mentioned his vision to incorporate the TriFan into the Icon fleet as soon as XTI begins deliveries.

“We’re very pleased to be working with Icon,” said Robert LaBelle, Chief Executive Officer of XTI. “Icon is a recognized business aviation company leader in Brazil and throughout South America, and is an ideal partner and customer for the TriFan aircraft.

XTI has received increasing buyer interest in the TriFan 600 since it began its prototype program at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) trade show in Las Vegas last year. According to the company, tests of a 60% scale prototype should begin next month.

Why it’s important: The many pre-sales of the XTI TriFan prove the value proposition of vertical take-off and landing aircraft that can land anywhere. Moreover, the TriFan 600 shows that the future market for VTOLs will be multi-segmented. While the TriFan 600 represents the luxury/long distance side of the market, other companies like Lillium represent the more public side. As streets become more and more crowded and flight technologies become more and more advanced, the demand for personal VTOLs will inevitably grow.

A Look at Carter Aviation’s New Electric Air Taxi Design

01 November 2018 || 3 min read

Carter Aviation is a Texas-based firm that develops “Slow Rotor/Compound technology (SR/C™)” for vertical take off and landing aircraft that combines with the efficiency of a fixed-wing airplane with the vertical take-off ability of a helicopter. Carter debuted its first VTOL prototype in 1998. Now, it has released concept images of its newest eVTOL design in line with Uber Elevate’s...

A Look at Carter Aviation’s New Electric Air Taxi Design

01 November 2018 || 3 min read

Carter debuted its first VTOL prototype in 1998. Now, it has released concept images of its newest eVTOL design in line with Uber Elevate’s specifications for future air taxis.

Carter Aviation’s newest Air Taxi eVTOL concept

Carter Aviation’s design is unique in that it is one of the only fixed wing eVTOLs to feature a single lift rotor rather than distributed electric propulsion (IDEP). It does not directly address why it has made the single rotor design choice as opposed to IDEP but does note the “unparalleled safety of a high inertia rotor”.

It’s notable that the company first began prototyping as far back as 1998, and prides itself mainly on its’ SR/C™ technology which it claims has a higher speed, cruise efficiency, and safety than other similar aircraft.

Carter’s 1998 “Carter Copter” VTOL Prototype

The single-rotor design is particularly significant as one of the reasons for special for certification requirements in Europe is that many of the new aircraft concepts such as the Vertical Aerospace eVTOL use a “distributed lift/thrust units to generate powered lift and control”.

Carter’s ‘Electric Air Taxi’ design features a 5 passenger capacity, a 175 mph cruise speed, and a battery range of 60 miles. These specifications are built to Uber Elevate requirements. It’s slowly turning rotor, a design edge unique to Carter, make it much quieter than traditional helicopters, and can act as a built-in parachute. The vehicle cruises between 1,000ft to 2,000ft and re-charge in 5 minutes.

Carter Aviation's Electric Air Taxi Blueprint Breakdown

A blueprint of the most important features of Carter’s air taxi

Why it’s import: Companies everywhere are gearing up to partner with Uber for future on-demand air mobility. Carter Aviation is a long-time expert in combining fixed wing and vertical lift technologies, and may an aircraft we one day see in operation with Uber. While Uber has selected certain companies to work with including Karem Aircraft, Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences, and Bell, and has developed its own models of potential aircraft, it may eventually take on other partners as well, or, as it needs more and more aircraft, outsource to companies like Carter.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg’s Vision for Aerospace Traffic Management

30 October 2018 || 3 min read

CEO of Boeing Dennis Muilenberg recently spoke at the Geekwire Summit early this October. His main point was this: The definition of ‘airplane’ is broadening quickly, and the new range of vehicles about to entire our airspace will require and entirely new eco-system. Muilenburg spoke extensively about air taxi systems, focusing on big picture idea that one day soon, there...

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg’s Vision for Aerospace Traffic Management

30 October 2018 || 3 min read

Muilenburg spoke extensively about air taxi systems, focusing on big picture idea that one day soon, there will be an entirely new and highly extended range of vehicles in our skies.

He mentioned that this ecosystem will include everything from urban air mobility solutions to hypersonic aircraft to even commercial spacecraft. Boeing plans on working on all components of this ecosystem to develop a full aerospace traffic management system.

“That all needs an integrated traffic system. That’s part of what we’re working on with NASA and the FAA”

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg during a fireside chat at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle. (Photo by Dan DeLong for GeekWire)

Muilenberg’s attendance at the GeekWire came with announcements that Boeing’s air taxi prototype will be ready to fly in 2019. As a reminder, Boeing has partnered with Aurora Fight Sciences to this end.

A vision of what the final Boeing Air Taxi may look like

“Think about a future in which you will have three-dimensional highways to relieve traffic congestion,” said said Muilenberg in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Seattle. He also stated expectation that initial operations of these air taxi systems will begin within five years.

Why it’s important: As the world of urban air mobility develops, every service provider will require its own airspace traffic management system. However, these systems all have to be integrated into one overall airspace management system so that all vehicles in the sky may co-ordinate with each other. Boeing is currently working with NASA and the FAA to develop this system.

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NASA and Booz’s Executive Brief in Detail

That’s the Summary. Here are the details.

Market Selection

Legal and Regulatory

Societal Barriers

Weather Analysis

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Key Takeaways

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They’re Great for Cars, But Not so Much Urban Aviation

The Current State of Battery Technology

Just 3% in Energy Density Increase Per Year.

Similar Industries: Tesla & Trucks

The Drone Industry

The UAM Industry

Roadblocks

Advantages

In Conclusion

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