Results for: cora

After recently announcing plans to conduct flight trials in New Zealand, the aspiring air taxi company Wisk has released details regarding the Cora, its autonomous electric air taxi vehicle.

The Cora is a two-seat autonomous aircraft powered by twelve boom-mounted independent lifting propellers enabling vertical flight. Designed to be autonomous from the start, Wisk CEO Gary Gysin emphasized the focus on safety for the development of the pilotless vehicle. “It also has a parachute recovery system,” said Gysin, “It is one of several safety aspects of the design. Whenever we fly along a route we always have multiple emergency landing spots and, being able to land anywhere, you have space everywhere in an emergency. And as a last resort we also have the emergency parachute—there is no single design point of failure.”

The Cora air taxi

Gysin and Wisk are aiming for a market niche centered around the two-seater design. “We are going straight to self-flying with two seats, so it is not optionally piloted”, said Gysin, “The sweet spot is anywhere from 30-to-60 mile range with reserves and 100 kt.-plus in speed. But based on the analysis we’ve done from a commuter perspective, when we are attacking that kind of market most of it says you are looking at 1.6 to 1.7 riders per vehicle. Clearly that data comes from the auto market, but we think that extrapolates into this market.” 

Wisk is a partner in the New Zealand government’s Airspace Integration Trials program, and the Cora will be certified by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority, which has been working with Wisk and its predecessor companies for several years. “We have a certification basis to fly already and we are finishing that up and hope to get that soon,” Gysin said. “We have made a conscious decision not to give certain dates. We will fly when it’s safe and we are certified.” 

Why it’s important: Backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, Wisk and the Cora are in the running for one of the most anticipated air taxi rideshare services in the coming decade. With several conscious decisions made about how design of the Cora differs from other eVTOLs, the success of Wisk could help define how aerial mobility fills a market niche for transportation.

Source // Aviation Week

Related:

Wisk and New Zealand Government Partner for Autonomous Air Taxi Trials

Pipistrel has selected Honeywell’s Compact Fly-By-Wire system for its Nuuva V300 cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Fly-By-Wire (FBW) avionics will provide the flight control “brains” to the eVTOL prototype and will offer the capability for safe and efficient autonomous operation.

Pipistrel has selected Honeywell to supply a FBW flight control solution for its Nuuva V300 VTOL prototype.

“After years of excellent cooperation in the UAM sector, we chose to work with Honeywell in the development of the Nuuva V300 as well,” said Ivo Boscarol, founder and CEO of Pipistrel Group. “We see this cargo aircraft paving the way for the passenger-carrying Pipistrel 801, our proposed air taxi for Uber Elevate, as both aircraft share similar architectures. Honeywell’s expertise and the proven capabilities of its Compact Fly-By-Wire system will provide airliner levels of safety for our novel air vehicles.”

Honeywell’s compact FBW product offering draws on its decades of experience developing similar flight controls suites for major aerospace OEM’s, but in the form factor of a paperback book. The product is intended for small autonomous cargo and aerial mobility platforms. FBW controls a vehicle’s control surfaces via flight control electronics in lieu of heavy hydraulics, control cables, or push rods. This solution greatly reduces maintenance costs for operators and provides the weight savings needed to make aerial mobility commercially viable.

The Pipistrel Nuuva V300 can carry up to a 660 pound (300 kilograms) payload.

“One of the toughest challenges logistics companies face today is meeting the demand for same-day delivery. Vehicles like Pipistrel’s Nuuva V300 are going to be a real breakthrough in the race to solve this problem,” said Stéphane Fymat, vice president and general manager, unmanned aerial systems (UAS)/UAM, Honeywell Aerospace. “We listened to our customers and built a product that meets the unique needs of this segment, and we’re extremely proud that our Compact Fly-By-Wire system will be guiding these vehicles as they take to the skies.”

Pipstrel’s Nuuva V300 is a long-range, large-capacity, autonomous UAV. It can carry payloads up to 660 pounds and has a range of 186 miles making it an ideal candidate for remote cargo delivery and areas once only reached by helicopters.

Other UAM companies using the Compact Fly-By-Wire system include Vertical Aerospace and Volocopter. Honeywell is also developing systems for autonomous landing, cooling, visual flight control, and even electric engines.

Why it matters: Pipstrel draws on Honeywell’s resume to deliver its flight controls package. Honeywell is well known and well regarded throughout the aerospace industry for its long history in avionics and system components found in traditional commercial and business aviation, and with this announcement further extends itself into the aerial mobility business. For Pipistrel, outsourcing flight control electronics will greatly reduce developmental costs of building its aircraft. Earlier this year, the company began accepting orders for the Nuuva 300 prototype.

Falck, one of the world’s most impressive emergency response providers, is turning to manned drones to get paramedics to the scene of an emergency faster than ever.

Operating in over 30 countries with over 25,000 emergency-trained employees, Falck plans to make manned drones an integral part of its fire and emergency medical services starting even before 2025. According to Falck, it the organization will use eVTOL transport to respond with a single paramedic, who can assess whether an ambulance is needed.

A rendering of a future Fack eVTOL emergency response vehicle in aciton

Falck is initiating its VTOL emergency response efforts with an unmanned drone program. Since 2018, Falck has been working with the innovation project “HealthDrones” – a three-year innovation project funded by Innovation Fund Denmark. The project was designed to explore how effective UAVs can be in transporting items like blood samples or medical equipment. The project was found so successful that Falck is now transitioning into operating its own drone fleet, with near-future addition of manned drones. A statement by Falck mentions that the company will work with a yet unnamed ‘tech partner’ which will provide the manned drones themselves and assist in carrying out manned operations.

A photo from Falck’s current work with “HealthDrones” to discover where new flight technologies will be most effective.

According to Falck, the key benefits of eVTOL response are multitude, but it’s yet to be seen which of these benefits will be the most valuable. Falck’s hypothesis is that the highest value will likely be found in improving response times, better accessing remote areas, treating patients at their homes, or reducing the number of necessary ambulance trips. Part of Falck’s goal for now is to experiment with these situations to discover in where the new flight technology can be most effective.

Falck expects to carry out the manned drone flights in cooperation with customers in either Denmark or abroad, and claims that several customers have already expressed interest. Falck expects to cooperate with one or more customers where the existing emergency medical services are at a high level, which encourages customer readiness for development.

Why it’s important: Emergency response represents one of the most near-term business use cases for eVTOL technology. While the expected benefits for emergency response itself are numerous and key to saving lives, putting new flight technologies to use in these situations will also provide an excellent way for eVTOLs to enter the market and the public sphere. In addition to Falck, new technologies from Volocopter, Urban Aeronautics, and even Gravity Industries are also entering partnerships for emergency response.

Embraer announced the formation of Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions, Inc. (Eve) on October 15th. Eve is an independent company dedicated to accelerating the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ecosystem, according to Embraer’s press release.

The announcement characterizes Eve as more than just a eVTOL manufacturer – the company is developing a full portfolio of solutions to enable the UAM market. One component of that development is the progression and certification of the company’s electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL), in addition to the associated services/support network, and the creation of urban air traffic management solutions.

André Stein, former head of strategy for EmbraerX, has been appointed CEO of Eve. The company was incubated for four years within EmbraerX. “We value the vast potential of the UAM market, as it represents a new business segment in which we foresee significant opportunities for Embraer. Innovation and diversification are key pillars of Embraer’s new strategic plan, which will increase revenue and improve profitability over the next few years,” said Francisco Gomes Neto, President and CEO of Embraer. “That is why I am eager to announce Eve, the first company to graduate from EmbraerX.

EmbraerX has been part of the Uber Elevate Network since its inception in 2017, as part of the company’s initiative to accelerate the UAM revolution, “Eve’s launch is an important next step in commercializing Embraer’s eVTOL designs while building on Embraer’s ability to design, certify, and deliver safe, globally-accepted aircraft. We look forward to our continued partnership to make aerial ridesharing a reality,” said Eric Allison, Head of Uber Elevate.

Eve’s eVTOL design is “human-centered” and represents an actual, certifiable product development – the first flight of the engineering simulator occurred in June of 2020. and the company is harnessing the expertise of both Embraer and Atech, a subsidiary of the Embraer Group, in providing globally-recognized air traffic management software to create the solutions that will help safely scale the UAM industry going forward.

More information on the company may be found at www.eveairmobility.com.

Why it’s important: Embraer’s formal spinoff of Eve creates a deliberate segmentation of the larger commercial aircraft manufacturer from the aerial mobility offerings of the future. The full stack approach to mobility infrastructure development is a unique approach toward bringing an eVTOL to market, one that requires a greater resource pool and technical, business, and infrastructure know-how. Fortunately, Embraer’s vast experience will aid in deploying this longer term goal of an aerial mobility ecosystem, but partnerships between Eve and companies such as Atech and the Uber Elevate Network will further aid the progression toward initial certification and on-demand commercial deployment of aerial mobility services.

Read the full press release here.

Volocopter has released the first worldwide study in partnership with ADAC Luftrettung on the role of eVTOL platforms in air rescue operations. The study was has spanned nearly two years of research and technology demonstrations across Bavaria and the Rhineland and has tried to determine if an aerial mobility focused rescue service system can expedite the transport of doctors and other medical professionals. The two companies previously launched simulated rescue operations a year ago in Germany.

The goal of the study is to determine the feasibility in transporting emergency doctors, rather than direct patient transport. Volocopter envisions working to complement rapid air assistance rather than replace it in early implementations.

^The Volocopter VoloCity, Volocopter’s second eVTOL iteration.

Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, commented, “The VoloCity is the first multicopter worldwide that is already in the process of commercial certification, and together with ADAC Luftrettung, it could already save lives today.

According to the study, significant improvements in emergency care for an operating radius of 25 to 30 kilometers has been shown. Cruise speed of the multicopter should be between 100 and 150 km/h with a minimum range of approx. 150 kilometers. These ideal conditions would be technically possible in about four years.

With such multicopters, emergency physicians could often be at the scene of an emergency twice as fast in rural areas compared to a conventional emergency medical service vehicle and reach around two to three times as many patients in a larger health service area. According to the study, multicopters were demonstrated as an adequate means in combatting the shortage of emergency doctors in many places and enabling current emergency doctors to work more efficiently. This was one of the most important findings of the study in light of the national average emergency physician arrival time worsening in the last 20 years by almost 40 percent.

“The work of the project participants is very impressive. Today we are convinced that multicopters can help shape and improve future rescue services. The results are so promising that we will pursue operational testing of the project,” announced Frédéric Bruder, Managing Director of the non-profit ADAC Luftrettung.

The study not only reviewed the technical elements of the mission profile but also legal, economic, and societal implications. They found that cost-efficiency is possible to achieve when compared relative to other investment requirements in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, the study found this implementation of eVTOL platforms could help solidify their position as a global leader in innovation and even become an incubator for them in the future.

Why it matters: This study between Volocopter and ADAC Luftrettung not only demonstrates Germany’s commitment to applying aerial mobility platforms on a large scale in the near term, but also dives deeper into the secondary and tertiary effects of its ambitions. On the surface, enhancing air response for emergency medical professionals will improve network efficiency and ultimately save lives. These advancements, however, underly Germany’s overall investment in aerial mobility and its desire to be a global leader in ushering in the next era of aviation.

Uber Technologies and South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom have agreed to form a joint venture for a specialized mobility business that will be spun off from SK Telecom. The new business will both support current on-demand ground transportation operations in tandem with planning future aerial mobility services. SK Telecom stated that its board had approved the creation of this new business, tentatively named “T Map Mobility”, and Uber has agreed to invest over $100 million into the joint venture. 

SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho stated that his company’s goal with T Map Mobility is to “usher in a new era of future mobility technologies, including flying vehicles.” T Map is South Korea’s largest mobility platform with around 13 million monthly active users, and the company plans to use data from these operations to help design aerial mobility infrastructure. 

Rendering of the EmbraerX eVTOL, a partner to the Uber Elevate project

SK Telecom stated that T Map Mobility would leverage 5G, artificial intelligence and T Map capabilities to offer optimal route planning, 3-D high definition mapping for high-altitude geographic features, and intelligent air traffic control systems for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. SK Telecom is a member of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Team Korea, a public-private consultative body launched in June to commercialize drone taxis by 2025.

Why it’s important: Leveraging South Korea’s most popular mobility platform, this joint venture between SK Telecom and Uber will accelerate the development of ride share services in South Korea on the ground to eventually transition to the air. By combining these businesses, the venture will provide an “all-in-one” mobility service that will utilizing existing ground transportation networks to grow into eventual aerial mobility services. By establishing this partnership, SK Telecom, Uber, and South Korea are laying down groundwork for air mobility in a major and systemic way. 

Source // Aju Business Daily

Kilowatt is currently selling its “EcoMax” helicopters with a traditional power plant and a guarantee to retrofit the rotorcraft with an Electric Power Unit (EPU) at no charge once it has been awarded its Supplemental Type Certificate (“STC”).

Eco Helicopters is working with Kilowatt Aviation to bring what it calls the “EcoMax”, an electrified version of the ubiquitous Robinson R44 light helicopter, to the market. Kilowatt’s goal with the EcoMax is to merge operational aspects of traditional helicopter air taxi services with the on-demand surface transport model pioneered by Uber and others. The company has also managed to match the performance of the conventional R44, while decreasing its noise-inducing vibrations and potentially extending its airframe/drivetrain fatigue-life.

The timeline for Kilowatt to obtain a type certification for the electrified R44 could be as short as 18 months given the relatively simple procedure of swapping the powerplant. In the meantime, and potentially starting in 2021, Eco Helicopters would operate the conventional R44 on routes around the LA area, to and from heliports and airports, as current charter helicopter services do. the operator is already a Part-135 FAA-approved passenger service provider (since 2007) and would work inside the current regulatory and commercial landscape. In doing so, it could be the first eVTOL provider to market with a largely familiar and proven business model.

Kilowatt originally began the electrification of the R44 to quickly transport organs for transplant that are being developed by United Therapeutics subsidiary Lung Biotechnology. However, United Therapeutics CEO Martine Rothblatt has seemingly redirected her focus and has made substantial investments in startup Beta Technologies, the Vermont-based developer of the Alia-250 eVTOL air taxi.

Richard Webb, Eco Helicopters owner and test pilot for the Tier 1 Engineering-developed electric R44, receives a Guinness World Record plaque for an eVTOL R44 flight.

Why it’s important: The approach by Eco Helicopters represents the most direct-to-market strategy for on demand eVTOL flight. Although more complicated aircraft designs will have their advantages, they may takes decades to fully develop and certify. In the meantime, by simply swapping out the power plant on an existing aircraft, Eco Helicopters and Kilowatt Aviation may make themselves one of the first eVTOL service providers in the world. Other companies including BLADE Urban Air Mobility and Skyryse have had recent success with similar strategies, by applying proven and certified helicopters to the new aerial mobility business model of short point-to-point urban flights.

Related:

• BLADE Announces Charters at Operating Cost for those affected by COVID-19
• BLADE and NYU Langone Partner for Emergency Organ Transfers via Helicopter
• BLADE Announces new Miami Beach Service

ZEVA Aero, a Tacoma Washington-based aircraft developer, has officially merged its assets with those of FabLab LLC, its former incubator.

According to a recent press release, the merger gives ZEVA ownership and control of important assets such as 3D printers capable of printing carbon fiber composites, CNC machines, electronics lab equipment, machine tools, computing and network resources and much more. Additionally, ZEVA Aero will gain revenue from existing contract manufacturing jobs at FabLab, and will take over the leasehold of the facility.

Rendering of the ZEVA Zero at full scale

ZEVA Aero is developer of the ZEVA Zero, a disc-shaped ‘blended body’ eVTOL that uses the body of the aircraft itself as a lift surface. ZEVA’s goal with the Zero is to make point-to-point personal air transportation accessible for people throughout the U.S. According to ZEVA Founder Steve Tibbitts, the company hopes to ‘have a ZEVA Zero in every garage by 2040’. The Zero prototype recently held a place at Boeing’s GoFly competition, where Tibbitts discussed the aircraft’s near-future potential for medical response and military applications.

In another article highlighting the recent wildfires in California, ZEVA’s team mentioned the potential benefits of using the Zero in emergency situations, particularly where firefighting ground vehicles might get trapped by flames or be unable to access key areas of the emergency situation. According to ZEVA, the Zero could get responders onto the scene faster than any other form of transportation with a 160mph cruise speed, and could even be remotely piloted in order to rescue people in danger. Other uses mentioned by ZEVA include resupply and location tracking.

Why it’s important: Although ZEVA Aero is a small company as compared to the aviation giants currently entering aerial mobility (Airbus, Boeing, Bell, etc), it has an incredibly unique concept with some clear design advantages over more traditional aircraft. While ZEVA may not be able to compete with these large companies for the shared air taxi business, the Zero could have great success in private ownership or specialized applications such as emergency rescue, surveillance, and more.

Israel eVTOL development company Gadfin is pursuing future developments of its aircraft through a partnership with an Italian Electric Infrastructure firm Enel. Gadfin was founded just two years ago, in 2018, by Eyal Regev, Ran Kleiner and Ilan Yuval.

The Gadfin “Spirit One”. The Spirt One’s wings fold in for vertical take off, and fold back out for forward flight.

The announcement for this partnership focused on the collaboration between the two companies via an innovation lab, slated INFRALAB, that was established through the Israeli Shikun & Binui construction group in Haifa. Of main focus is aerial survey of over 800,000km of power lines, per Gadfin information. These surveys are critical to assessing the health of national and international infrastructure at costs cheaper than ever before.

Gadfin’s aircraft, named the Spirit One, won a competition that included over 30 aircraft vying for the opportunity to be selected be Enel to receive up to $12 Million per year for development purposes. Spirit One was ultimately selected due to its capabilities of range, autonomous operation, and efficiency and safety of operation. Gadfin has been making news in 2020, as early this year it was the first company to receive a permit from Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority for urban airspace deliveries. This permit approval opens a wide range of opportunities to the company and affords them the opportunity of being first to market amongst Israeli aerial logistics companies.

The Spirit One has a range of over 250 km, while remaining lighter than 25kg. The aircraft is operated autonomously, with no human control, and is reported to be resistance to the challenges of operation in difficult weather situations. While the vehicle is not yet sized for passenger carrying operations, the infrastructure for autonomous on-demand inspections of power line infrastructure is being laid, just as approvals for commercial aerial mobility operations are also being issued from the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority. Both activities are key enablers to paving the road for future, larger scale eVTOL operations in Israel and Italy.

Why it’s important: The Enel and Gadfin partnership represents a common scenario for key enabling aerial mobility technology pathways for the future – partnership between two dissimilar businesses that define the operational infrastructure for aerial mobility through business to business transactions, mostly focused on logistical applications. As certification efforts for electric VTOL aircraft continue, one only needs to replace the vehicle, and not the operational framework, to create a large scale on-demand aerial transportation network.

View video of the Gadfin Spirit One in operation here.

uAvionix, a growing avionics leader in aerial mobility, has patented its Direct-Broadcast Remote Identification (RID) technology for unmanned aircraft systems under U.S. Patent 10,733,894. The firm has been working to build a comprehensive suite of communications, navigation, and surveillance avionics for a variety of industry applications for drones all the way through fully-manned general aviation vehicles.

“This patent is a reflection of uAvionix’s early thought leadership in the area of UAS surveillance and tracking,” said Christian Ramsey, President of uAvionix. “The rules proposed under the FAA’s remote identification NPRM validate that leadership. We’re proud to be a part of building the foundational elements for the aviation networks of the future.”

uAvinoix envisions this technology will be used along with its developing Command and Control (C2) and Detect & Avoid (DAA) technologies. Combined, the technology promises to enable safe and secure unmanned aerial system operation over people and beyond direct line of sight.

Remote Identification (RID) provides direct air-to-air transmission of UAS identification without the need for other infrastructure such as cellular towers, satellites, or internet connectivity. It is commonly referred to as a “digital license plate” which will protect operator’s anonymity while providing accountability to regulatory agencies across the globe.

Patent filings for uAvionix’s Remote ID technology show its potential implementation in service.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to publish final regulations pertaining to RID standards by the end of the year. In its draft Notice of Public Rulemaking (NPRM), the FAA will require RID capability for any UAS operating beyond 400 feet from a given control station.

Why it matters: New regulations will generate a large market for uAvionix’s RID solutions for UAS operators. In combination with C2 and DAA technologies, uAvionix is quickly laying the building blocks in the creation of a comprehensive aerial mobility avionics ecosystem. While early applications will be for smaller UAS devices, these technologies can will eventually provide for the safe and reliable operation of passenger-carrying eVTOL platforms.