Category: Events

Hanwha Systems, a South Korean defense technologies company, is making a $25 million equity investment in a U.S. based startup in order to further develop UAM.

While Hanwha Systems has been previously involved with the aerospace industry, playing a significant role in the development of the KAI KF-X jet’s avionics, this investment in K4 Aeronautics its first into the air taxi industry.

The idea of urban air mobility is especially attractive for the residents and industries of Seoul, South Korea, a city that has roughly 2 million more residents than NYC but is 75 sq. miles smaller in size. For this purpose, Hanwha Systems is specifically targeting the development of personal aerial vehicles (PAV), citing interest in the budding air taxi market as a possible cost-efficient alternative to helicopter or private jet flights. “The personal aerial vehicle is an attractive business item that can expand our business into new fields by utilizing technologies from aviation electronics and information communication technology,” according to Hanwha Systems, “We will foster it as a future growth engine through global investment and cooperation with leading companies”.

Hanwha System CEO Chang Si-Kweon (left) and K4 Aeronaumics chief Ben Tigner (right). Source: Hanwha Systems

While new to the UAM industry, K4 Aeronautics has already acquired a number of patents applicable to the manufacturing of efficient and environmentally friendly eVTOLs, according to Hanwha. While the California-based company’s deal with Hanwha has not yet been approved by the US government, it should happen soon. “We believe K4 Aeronautics will meet the standards for market entry,” Hanwha Systems said in a statement. “Our investment deal will proceed with the normal requirements for the US government’s approval process”.

The South Korean company added that it would utilize its aerospace electronics, software. and cybersecurity technologies for the development of PAVs and officially expand its business to the UAM market.

Why it’s important: The latest investment by Hanwha’s represents yet another country’s interest in developing urban air mobility solution. With such a large investment in a U.S company, Hanwha illustrates the depth of international business collaboration that will enable UAM. 

Sources // Korea Herald

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Paragon VTOL Aerospace, a multi-national VTOL maker, has recently adopted solutions from Siemens Digital Industries in order to expedite and improve their product development process. 

Paragon VTOL’s T21 Raptor

As part of Siemens’ new Aerospace Startup Program, the company is providing an integrated set of software solutions for Paragon VTOL Aerospace to design, test, produce, and monitor both current and future drone designs. With this partnership, Paragon intends to reduce both time and cost for their product development process, and more quickly bring their products to market. According to Paragon VTOL founder Dwight Smith, “Our vision is to provide a portfolio of intellectual property, industry specific drones, human passenger drones, and virtual highway platforms in Jamaica”.

“We currently have plans to implement software and hardware programs in 2019 and begin testing two to four passenger drones by year-end 2019.”

Paragon Aerospace’s specialty lies in providing industry-specific drone hardware which could be used for security, law enforcement, or general transportation. The company is also currently involved with Aerotropolis Jamaica, a Jamaican government project lead by the Hon. L. Michael Henry in the Office of the Prime Minister, where their focus is to build and maintain an ecosystem and infrastructure for UAM in Jamaica.

“Our T21 Raptor is designed for universal applications based on industry requirements. We have successfully operated our third small scale prototype and developing a full scale to clear a path for commercialization.”

For Siemens, the goal is to partner with new businesses in aerospace emerging technology markets, provide market-leading CAD and CAE software solutions, and help startups embrace digitalization in product development. Siemens Director of Aerospace & Defense Bobby Blackmon said: “The aerospace industry is changing rapidly… Companies like Paragon are bringing new, emerging technology to market and changing the way we view the world. Siemens is proud to provide solutions from our market-leading Digital Innovation Platform to Paragon as part of our Aerospace Start-up Program.”

Visit Paragon VTOL’s site here.

Visit Siemens’ site here.

Why it’s important: The importance of modern and efficient software in the aerospace industry is rising with the growing UAM market. To provide quick, safe, and efficient flight services, especially in urban areas, companies like Siemens involved with the UAM industry must implement up-to-date software solutions in their designs, especially if in the future autonomous flight services become the staple mode of transportation. 

Source // Paragon VTOL Aerospace

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The Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) and Dutch firm PAL-V have signed a memorandum of understanding for KAC to provide maintenance services of PAL-V’s Liberty in the Middle East. 

The PAL-V Liberty, set for release in 2021.

The MoU was signed by PAL-V CEO Robert Dingemanse and KAC Deputy CEO Abdul Halim Zaidan, at a ceremony attended by KAC Board Chairman Yousif Abdul Hameed Al-Jassem, Netherlands Ambassador to Kuwait Frans Potuyt, KAC CEO Kamel Al-Awadhi, manager of the regional business center in Dubai Abdullah Al-Enezi, and PAL-V’s Deputy CEO in the Middle East Khalil Malaeb. 

The PAL-V is a two-seater roadable air vehicle with a maximum flying speed of 180km/h and a maximum road speed of 160km/h. It needs a 180m runway to take off and only a 30-meter runway to land.

The deal speaks to the future of flying cars in the Middle East. PAL-V CEO Dingemanse stressed that the MoU is ‘historic’ in the field of aviation, and marks the start of long term cooperation between both companies. KAC’s CEO Kamel Al-Awadhi expressed that for KAC, the focus of the MoU is to provide clients like PAL-V with a large variety of services, and to highlight KAC’s highly skilled engineering and technical staff. Ambassador Potuyt was very optimistic about the deal, emphasizing his belief that the agreement will strengthen both participating countries’ economic and political relations.

The PAL-V Liberty, available for $400,000, is set for initial release in 2021. Learn more about the Liberty here.

Flying cars could be taking to the skies of Kuwait by 2021.

Why it’s important: With this most recent MoU for PAL-V, the role of the Liberty in the air mobility industry is further cemented. The Liberty’s design allows for a wide variety of applications, not only in the private sector, but also in Kuwait’s military, national guard, firemen, and rescue services. With successful demonstrations of the various PAL-V use cases, a surge of interest from both the public and private sector may not be far behind. 

Sources // Kuwait Times

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Uber Elevate has finalized the agenda for its third upcoming Summit in Washington D.C June 11th-12.

This is Uber Elevate’s third official yearly conference. The Elevate Summits gather together leaders from across industry, government, policy, and technology for a 2-day event aimed at promoting the future of Urban Air Mobility.

Speakers at this year’s Summit will include executives from the Elevate initiative, Key local, state, US, and international policymakers & regulators, Elevate Network partners across vehicle production, real estate, and engineering, investors in the urban aviation ecosystem, and other industry experts. Notable speakers include Dara Khosrowshahi (CEO of Uber) Elaine Chao (Secretary of Transportation for the United States) Jay Merkle  (Executive Director at UAS Integration Office of the FAA), Mitch Snyder (CEO of Bell) and many more.

This year’s conference will begin by overviewing the progress made since the original conception of Uber Elevate three years ago and then highlighting this year’s desired achievements. It will outline the specific regulatory path to market for urban air taxis, speak to manufacturing capabilities and certification, and discuss how airspace will be managed. Ultimately, the event aims to encompass every aspect of making urban air taxis a reality from regulation to safety to manufacturing and engineering.

Uber Elevate 2017 in Dallas, when Pipistrel announced its partnership with Uber Elevate

Uber’s aircraft partners currently include Bell, Pipistrel, Boeing, Embraer and more. Elevate has already announced its intended initial launch markets as Dallas and Los Angeles, and will begin demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023. It also currently evaluating additional launch markets in Australia, Brazil, France, India and Japan.

Watch the Uber Elevate promotional video:

Why it’s important: Every Uber Elevate conferences mark major steps for Urban Air Mobility. Partnered some of the biggest players in the market, as well as many members of the U.S government, Uber Elevate has the plans to begin commercial operations in Dallas and Los Angeles by 2023, and begin demonstrator flights by 2020.

Sources // Uber Elevate

The University of Michigan released a study, published in the Nature Communications on April 9th, comparing the efficiency of conventional ground transportation to a theoretical eVTOL aircraft.

The study compared the energy consumption of these vehicles in various scenarios, accounting for various numbers of people and distances. The research team found that for the first 40 km (25 mile), eVTOLs had vastly higher energy consumption, with emission tripling that of an internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) and 6 times that of a battery engine vehicle (BEV). However, past that 40 km mark, the energy consumption for eVTOLs fell drastically, with eVTOLs being actually more efficient than ICEVs, and slightly above that of BEVs. This was also under the assumption that eVTOLs would be carrying more passengers compared to ICEVs or BEVs. For the actual emissions per passenger for a trip lasting 100 km (~60 miles), eVTOLs were 52% cleaner than ICEVs and 6% cleaner than BEVs.

ICEV: Internal combustion engine vehicle; VTOL: Vertical takeoff and landing; BEV: Battery electric vehicle.

The finding that eVTOLs may provide more efficiency than ICEVs and BEVs, combined with the fact that eVTOLs would provide quicker trips and less traffic, has huge implications for the future of the transportation industry. A key fact to consider, according to study co-author Jim Gawron, a graduate student at Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability and its Ross School of Business, is that “You’re able to essentially spread out the emissions more per person… Having multiple passengers also allows you to take more vehicles off the road.”

“Our model represents general trends in the VTOL space and uses parameters from multiple studies and aircraft designs to specify weight, lift-to-drag ratio and battery-specific energy,” said co-author Noah Furbush

Considering that current transportation is responsible for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S, with 60% of those emissions come from light duty vehicles like passenger cars, it is probable that we see a shift soon to more BEVs and eVTOLs as opposed to the current dominance of ICEVs.

“We did not imagine that flying cars would have any role in a sustainable mobility system,” said study leader Akshat Kasliwal, a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems. “We were surprised to see that they do.”

Why it’s important: University of Michigan’s recent study adds support to the benefits that urban air mobility possesses over conventional transportation, and may lead to increased interest from the general public. While purely a theoretical study, the University of Michigan’s findings may hold significance for the companies interested in entering the UAM industry, specifically in how they should decide structuring their approach into not only creating an actual prototype and final product, but also what specific types of services they will provide with the most benefits.

Sources // University of Michigan, Nature Communications

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“Is Urban Air Transport the answer to the problem of dense urban spaces and congested transportation systems in the world’s major cities?”

Aviation Week Network intends to answer that question and other UAM-related topics through their Urban Air Mobility Conference next week in the Georgia World Congress Center at Atlanta. Featuring over a hundred companies and various individuals, as well as associations such as the FAA and NASA, this conference represents a prime opportunity for manufacturers, regulators, disruptors, technology innovators, municipal leaders, and the infrastructure and investment community to gather together to discuss commercialized urban aviation and developments in the UAM community.

The main topics in the agenda will include:

• UAM Market Forecast

• The Airframers/Competition in the UAM industry

• UAS Traffic Management: Adaptation and Integration

• Reimagining the Future of Transportation with Personal Flight

• Regulations for UAM: Compliance, Quality, and Safety for the Global UAM Market

• Public Private Partnerships in UAM

• Electric Distributed Propulsion: Progress, Power and Reliability

• UAM Supply Chain in 2023

• Barriers: Noise – Emissions – Public Perception of UAM

• Infrastructure: Vertiports in Cities and Airports

• Investment in Start-ups and Infrastructure

To learn more about each of these events, take a look at Aviation Week Network’s official conference agenda.

In addition to taking a look at the various sectors and developments in the UAM industry, startups will also be given an opportunity to pitch their best ideas to potential investors at the UAM Innovation Pitch Session.

The conference is produced by Aviation Week Network and supported by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). It takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 9 and 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10.

A representation of all the companies and associations attending the conference.

Why it’s important: This conference gives the opportunity for those participating or interested in the UAM community and market to take a look at the various innovations developed among those in the community, learn more about issues and barriers to developing the UAM industry, and provides a spotlight on the UAM industry for companies and individuals alike to gain and provide insight.

Source // Aviation Week Network UAM

Astro Aerospace has been accepted to participate in the NASA Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge.

From NASA’s website: “The vision to revolutionize mobility within metropolitan areas is one of the most exciting frontiers in modern aviation. NASA remains committed to supporting accessible air transport systems for passengers and cargo by working with the UAM community to identify and address the key challenges ahead.”

Astro Aerospace is most known for their development of the Elroy, an autonomous 2-person eVTOL (electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) passenger drone. The Elroy is designed with densely populated areas in mind, and is considered environmentally friendly with zero emissions and low noise.  After successfully completing flight trials with the Elroy in late 2018, Astro Aerospace is ready to take on the NASA UAM Grand Challenge.

The Elroy, an autonomous eVTOL passenger drone capable of seating two.

The Grand Challenge itself will be a series of tests, of which the first (GC-1) will begin in 2020. According to NASA’s own website, the first challenge that Astro Aerospace and others in the UAM community accepted will be to “promote public confidence in UAM safety and facilitate community-wide learning while capturing the public’s imagination.”

Why it’s important: Astro Aerospace’s entry into the NASA UAM Grand Challenge, along with those of all other participants, is just one step in NASA’s goal “to ‘raise the water level’ for the entire UAM community”. The Grand Challenge itself is an important channel to raise awareness and support for developing a widespread UAM ecosystem and market. Astro Aerospace’s and others’ designs in the Grand Challenge will help provide the innovation and competition necessary to create a stir in the UAM industry.

Sources // Globe Newswire, NASA, Astro Aerospace