Category: Operators

Urban Air Mobility at Amsterdam Drone Week 2019

08 December 2019 || 5 min read

Amsterdam Drone Week opened this week, and urban air mobility took center stage. The second annual Amsterdam Drone Week (ADW) took place on December 4th-6th this week, and provided a global venue for exchanging knowledge and expertise on current as well as future air mobility solutions, innovations, and essential regulations. RAI Amsterdam served as the focal point for top-level players, large...

Urban Air Mobility at Amsterdam Drone Week 2019

08 December 2019 || 5 min read

Amsterdam Drone Week opened this week, and urban air mobility took center stage.

The second annual Amsterdam Drone Week (ADW) took place on December 4th-6th this week, and provided a global venue for exchanging knowledge and expertise on current as well as future air mobility solutions, innovations, and essential regulations. RAI Amsterdam served as the focal point for top-level players, large and small, commercial and non-commercial, from various industries, knowledge institutes and authorized bodies to come together to create, innovate, and collaborate.

Philip Butterworth Hayes, the editor of Urban Air Mobility News, appropriately kicked things off: creating a vision not only of a world where drones provide an integral part of urban transportation systems – but where humans and robots establish a working relationship. “What do we want to achieve this week?” asked Hayes. “We need to achieve a closer understanding of the drone market and its potential, both in the short and long term.” If that isn’t enough of a challenge, Hayes says that Urban Air Mobility is nothing short of a revolution. UAM represents a complete change in thinking for cities. “We’re creating a new transportation ecosystem,” says Hayes. “The last time we did that was in 1945, when we started the commercial aviation industry.”

To discuss and brainstorm ideas for the new transportation ecosystem, Hayes moderated a roundtable discussion on “Reinventing Mobility” featuring key industry experts and innovators. The speakers included CMO Europe at EHang Andreas Perroti, Founder of AirMap Ben Marcus, Innovation and Deployment Director at ERTICO Dr. Johanna Tzanidaki, and Director New Business Ventures at Boeing Next John Damush. Boeing also hosted a handful of presentations on the Future of Airspace Management as well as Mobility & Sustainable Aviation.

In another address at ADW, Dr. Johanna Tzanidaki explained the “Internet of Mobility” and what that means for the future of drone transportation. ERTICO is focused on Intelligent Transport Systems, or ITS. ERTICO’s vision for mobility is a shared, digital, multi-modal and on-demand network. In practical terms, that means logging on to one system and determining the best and most convenient way to get from point A to point B: combining modes like bikes, cars, and drones as appropriate. Companies like BLADE are already providing services that combine multiple modes of transportation, and technology like that of ERTICO could be a solution that leads to further optimization.

ADW was also an opportunity for Avy to reveal its new long-endurance VTOL drone designed for lifesaving beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) missions. The vehicle, named Aera, features modular payload capabilities, integrated avionics, and redundant communications, and will be used, amongst other things, in the Medical Drone Service pilot project, launched earlier this week. The Medical Drone Service will investigate safe and reliable transport of blood products and medicines between blood banks and hospitals over the next three years. During the exhibition, Avy performed live flight demonstrations in the drone arena on each day, and displayed the Aera in the showcase area. Founder Mr Patrique Zaman also hosted a humble talk on his success thus far with Avy and the future of Urban Air Mobility.

Why it’s important: Amsterdam Drone Week is seeing growing success in its ability to rally key industry leaders, regulators, and manufacturers together for the purpose of expediting a new transportation ecosystem safely and efficiently. It’s the continual efforts of conferences and gatherings like ADW that will ultimately shape the aerial mobility industry and aid in garnering the public’s acceptance.

Sources // dronelife; Amsterdam Drone Week

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Workhorse Finalizes Sale of SureFly to Moog Inc.

08 December 2019 || 4 min read

The Workhorse Group have officially let go of their Surefly and Horsefly to Moog Inc Workhorse Group, a US manufacturing company dedicated to manufacturing electrically powered delivery and utility vehicles, have sold the assets for their trademarked SureFly eVTOL to Moog Inc as well as all related hybrid electric power system technologies. The two transactions, for the SureFly and HorseFly, were...

Workhorse Finalizes Sale of SureFly to Moog Inc.

08 December 2019 || 4 min read

The Workhorse Group have officially let go of their Surefly and Horsefly to Moog Inc

Workhorse Group, a US manufacturing company dedicated to manufacturing electrically powered delivery and utility vehicles, have sold the assets for their trademarked SureFly eVTOL to Moog Inc as well as all related hybrid electric power system technologies. The two transactions, for the SureFly and HorseFly, were finalized on October 1, 2019, with the closings taking place on November 27, 2019. According to Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes:

Building strong relationships through partnerships and transactions with world-class operators like Moog has always been a key area of focus for our company. In selling SureFly, we have been able to monetize a secondary asset, which will provide us with additional working capital for our core business, which is the manufacturing of electric last-mile delivery vehicles.

Moog Inc. acquired the SureFly eVTOL in one of their transactions with Workhorse Group.

In a second separate transaction, the company also entered a joint venture with Moog Inc concerning Workhorse’s HorseFly “last mile delivery” Aerial System. Under the new agreement, Workhorse and Moog will each own 50% of the equity interests in the newly formed joint venture. Workhorse will contribute assets and material related to the HorseFly, while Moog will contribute complementary assets, intellectual property (IP) and other related technology. According to Workhorse, the purpose of the new joint venture is for the purpose of sharing and advancing technology and intellectual properties related to the development of unmanned aerial systems, or UAS.

The HorseFly drone delivery system.

On the new joint venture, Hughes said:

Through our HorseFly [Joint Venture], we’re looking forward to taking another existing Workhorse technology and leveraging the experience and resources of an established enterprise to tackle new markets and create outcomes there are greater than just the sum of the parts.

For additional details regarding the transactions, please reference the Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 4, 2019.

Why it’s important: With Workhorse Group having monetized their assets in the SureFly and HorseFly, Moog Inc. will now have a chance to see if the SureFly and HorseFly will hold any promise in the aviation industry. Workhorse previously predicted that future applications of the SureFly could be in “precision agriculture, urban commutes, emergency response, military, and more.” Moog Inc. will now have the chance to incorporate the SureFly into these potential fields, while the Cleveland-based company will return to the design and manufacturing sector rather than the aviation sector.

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Kitty Hawk Corp Rebrands as Wisk

03 December 2019 || 3 min read

Kitty Hawk recently rebranded as Wisk.Aero in a move many news outlets are stating is resultant of turmoil within the company. Regardless, the firms’ planned rollout of aerial mobility solutions in New Zealand is touted on the new wisk.aero website – along with the advantages of New Zealand as a location for piloting urban mobility solutions. Wisk touts the more...

Kitty Hawk Corp Rebrands as Wisk

03 December 2019 || 3 min read

Wisk is the result of a rebranding of Kitty Hawk Corporation, 6 months after the company announced a partnership with Boeing.

Wisk touts the more than 1,000 flights that Cora has completed to date, and is the result of the recent partnership announced between Boeing HorizonX (the venture arm of Boeing) and Kitty Hawk Corporation. Wisk’s CEO, Gary Gysin, is among board members that also include Steve Nordlund, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing NeXT, along with Logan Jones, VP of Boeing HorizonX. The mission of Wisk, according to the website, is unchanged from that of Kitty Hawk – less the rebrand.

Additionally, the organization features New Zealand local representatives as well – Anna Kominik serves as the New Zealand country director for the company, helping to advance local policy and establish New Zealand as a global contender among future mobility projects.

However, no timelines are presented for when Cora may operate on its first commercially-serviced route in New Zealand, as the company has publicly announced that no flights with paying customers would occur “until the time is right”. The company says that New Zealand has a “safety-focused regulatory environment” and “a strong history of excellence in airspace management”.

Boeing’s partnership with KittyHawk Corporation may also play well with recent advances made by the company related to the SkyGrid systems – a partnership between Boeing and sparkcognition, the world’s leader in AI. SkyGrid is establishing UTM solutions (low altitude airspace management) that’ll allow for drones and eVTOLs to interact with one another autonomously and deconflict an increased quantity of air traffic. That same UTM technology, when integrated with Wisk’s operating plan in New Zealand, would serve as the basis for a small, commercial eVTOL operation.

Why it’s important: The formal rebranding of Kitty Hawk as Wisk comes almost six months after the June announcement of a partnership between Boeing and the eVTOL maker. Since that announcement, numerous challenges have faced both companies, but the quantity and quality of resource pools and financial support from each will most likely contribute to persistent progress toward officially developing and deploying the systems that are being tested today.

NASA + Uber Aerial Mobility Testing Continues

01 December 2019 || 4 min read

Uber and NASA are collaborating to simulate the future of eVTOL ridesharing services. According to NASA, the end goal of the collaboration with Uber is a safe and efficient air transportation system where everything from small package-delivery drones to passenger-carrying air taxis operate over populated areas – from small towns to the largest cities. Researchers at NASA’s Ames and Langley...

NASA + Uber Aerial Mobility Testing Continues

01 December 2019 || 4 min read

Uber and NASA are collaborating to simulate the future of eVTOL ridesharing services.

According to NASA, the end goal of the collaboration with Uber is a safe and efficient air transportation system where everything from small package-delivery drones to passenger-carrying air taxis operate over populated areas – from small towns to the largest cities.

Credit // NASA

Researchers at NASA’s Ames and Langley Research Centers are developing technologies for UAM airspace management to make large-scale operations possible. Researchers at Ames have already studied, designed and tested technologies that could soon be used for drone airspace management, even in complex urban landscapes.

In this partnership, Uber is sharing its plans for implementing an aerial mobility eVTOL rideshare network. NASA meanwhile, as America’s aeronautics research agency, is using the latest in airspace management computer modeling and data collection to assess the impacts of small aircraft in crowded environments, and begin designing management systems.

A series of collaborative meetings between NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Air Traffic and NextGen organizations, and Uber, are currently ongoing at NASA Ames Research Center. The focus of these meetings is to discuss near- and mid-term UAM procedures and identify top priorities in development and regulation. In fact, the Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) project’s Increasing Diverse Operations (IDO) subproject recently led a discussion on long term research needs for new entrants into the National Airspace System (NAS).

Savita Verma demonstrates X2 to FAA and Uber visitors in the UAM lab.

Demonstration of X2 to FAA and Uber visitors. Credit // NASA

An engineering evaluation called “X2” saw the NASA Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) Urban Air Mobility (UAM) team collaborate with Uber Elevate to run a complete simulation of eVTOL flights over Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The NASA team demonstrated the X2 simulation’s use cases such as a live connection to Uber’s simulation facilities and virtual flights. The series of 40-minute test scenarios was reported to be a success, and further simulations are already being planned..

Why it’s important: Simulating eVTOL air traffic over Dallas is a key part of beginning Uber’s aerial ridesharing services planned to begin as early as 2023. Through sophisticated simulations, Uber and NASA will allow involved parties to understand and successfully plan the management of airspace. Uber plans to conduct demonstration flights in Dallas in 2020.

Source // NASA, Uber

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Beta Technologies Selects GPMS for Condition Monitoring System

24 November 2019 || 4 min read

GPMS developed a Health & Usage Monitoring System to serve emerging eVTOL applications. Vermont-based Beta Technologies is currently developing the second iteration of its eVTOL prototype at their facility in South Burlington. The new prototype will build upon many of the design features seen in the company’s first iteration, the Ava, and we can likely expect a redesigned structure to...

Beta Technologies Selects GPMS for Condition Monitoring System

24 November 2019 || 4 min read

GPMS developed a Health & Usage Monitoring System to serve emerging eVTOL applications.

Vermont-based Beta Technologies is currently developing the second iteration of its eVTOL prototype at their facility in South Burlington. The new prototype will build upon many of the design features seen in the company’s first iteration, the Ava, and we can likely expect a redesigned structure to more closely fit the requirements of various aerial mobility applications. One technology that will certainly be seen in Beta’s next prototype is Foresight, a Next Generation Health & Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) designed specifically for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

GPMS Foresight MX Foresight is the flagship product of Vermont-based GPMS, and combines advanced sensors and cloud-based software to provide remote monitoring and predictive maintenance capability. The software is designed to give rotorcraft operators the power to “know it before it matters.” Installation of Foresight MX on the Beta platform will enable Beta to reduce operational costs through advanced notification of impending maintenance requirements while adhering to budget, space and weight constraints of operators. Additionally, Beta engineers will be able to remotely monitor their rotorcraft, accessing data and analytics for advanced diagnostics and predictive maintenance.

The GPMS Foresight MX system provides mechanical diagnostics and prognostics including engine performance monitoring, exceedance monitoring, flight regime recognition, automated data acquisition, and optimization solutions for rotor, track and balance. The Foresight MX computer weighs a fraction of legacy system, provides automatic alerting through email and SMS, and has a user interface accessible through web browser on a laptop, desktop, tablet or cell phone. Beta engineers will be able to monitor their rotorcraft directly, accessing data and analytics for advanced diagnostics and predictive maintenance. “eVTOLs share with traditional helicopters the need to understand and continuously evaluate the health and condition of key mechanical systems,” said GPMS CEO and Chief Engineer, Eric Bechhoefer in a press release. “We are excited to enter this market with Beta.”

Why it’s important: GPMS has the technical acumen to provide a condition monitoring system adaptable to a vehicle’s needs at a reasonable price point. As Beta iterates upon its already proven prototype, the new partnership with GPMS could be an immensely valuable launchpad for GPMS to demonstrate its technology. Eventually, Foresight may be integrated with the onboard systems of many other aerial mobility vehicles.

Source // GPMS press release

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CoMotion LA Recap: Sikorsky to Advance Aerial Mobility Vision

20 November 2019 || 4 min read

“CoMotion LA 2019: Where Innovation, Policy and Business come together to design the future of urban mobility” The CoMotion LA Leadership Conference brought together global leaders of the mobility revolution last week on November 14-15, 2019. Reserved for policymakers and industry players from around the world, the event featured curated discussions about how urban mobility is set to transform where...

CoMotion LA Recap: Sikorsky to Advance Aerial Mobility Vision

20 November 2019 || 4 min read

“CoMotion LA 2019: Where Innovation, Policy and Business come together to design the future of urban mobility”

Photo // CoMotion LA

The CoMotion LA Leadership Conference brought together global leaders of the mobility revolution last week on November 14-15, 2019. Reserved for policymakers and industry players from around the world, the event featured curated discussions about how urban mobility is set to transform where and how we live, work, and play — and walk, bike and ride. A portion of the discussions on technology and policy focused specifically on aerial mobility, and highlighted its potential as well as the companies that are leading the charge.

Key metrics highlighting the reach of CoMotion LA’s November 2019 conference. Credit // CoMotion LA

Over the two days of the conference, participants had exclusive admission to the CoMotion LA Leadership conference, exhibits, demos and receptions – all in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. The technology on display ranged from electric scooters to autonomous urban shuttles, and showcased the most advance technologies that are soon to comprise the urban mobility infrastructure in major cities around the world.

Sikorsky s-76 lifts off from an urban helipad. Photo // Sikorsky

One demonstration in LA last week featured an integrated, app-based approach to fulfill a new vision for urban air mobility (UAM). Sikorsky announced that it is working on the tech alongside Otis Elevator Company and the helicopter operator Helinet Aviation. Ultimately, the app will enable users to download a version of Otis Elevator’s eCall smartphone app, which will present them with a choice of destinations and relevant flight times.

The functionality was showcased at the conference where, after participants made their selection on the app, it guided them to an elevator and up to the rooftop of a parking garage. Users were even directed to a specific elevator by the app so as to avoid congestion, and upon reaching the top of the building, they were welcomed to a future heliport concept, designed by Helinet. The demonstration concluded with flyovers by a Sikorsky S-76D, which serves as today’s placeholder for a VTOL aircraft until quieter vehicles become commercially operable.

Why it’s important: CoMotion is a recurring international conference serving as a global laboratory and collaborative space for the future of urban mobility. It will continue to bring together many of the key influencers and doers that will contribute to the seamless integration in to major cities. Meanwhile, Sikorsky, as well as partners Otis and Helinet, are focused on adapting to existing infrastructure. As they make strides and hone in on aspects such as safety and affordability, aerial mobility will incrementally reach a point of being more widely accepted and normalized by society.

Source // CoMotion LA

EHang Prepares For $100 Million IPO on Nasdaq

08 November 2019 || 3 min read

The company prepares for their predicted $100 million Initial Public Offering eVTOL manufacturer EHang recently filed an SEC F1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation for their predicted $100 million initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. This indicates EHang’s intention to offer Class A ordinary shares before the end of 2019, and will be listed under...

EHang Prepares For $100 Million IPO on Nasdaq

08 November 2019 || 3 min read

The company prepares for their predicted $100 million Initial Public Offering

eVTOL manufacturer EHang recently filed an SEC F1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation for their predicted $100 million initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. This indicates EHang’s intention to offer Class A ordinary shares before the end of 2019, and will be listed under Nasdaq symbol “EH”. This IPO would make EHang the first of many eVTOL startups to go public.

In the filing, EHang indicated that their main focus for now would be on the Chinese market. With the state of US and European aviation regulatory frameworks still in uncertainty in regards to eVTOLs, the preference for their domestic market is not unsurprising. According to the F1 filing, EHang have delivered 38 AAVs since March 2018 to various partners and prospective distributors, including freight group DHL-Sinotrans, and “unfulfilled orders” for 28 more aircraft.

During the first six months of 2019, EHang reported a net loss of $5.5 million, which was 42% higher than the loss it incurred in the same period for 2018. Revenue for the first six months of 2019 were also down by 15.6% at $4.7 million. During 2017, EHang subsidiaries in Germany and the U.S. filed for bankruptcy and these cases are still being resolved. The company indicated that these companies traded as sales organizations for consumer drones before it decided to withdraw from the market in those countries.

Why it’s important: EHang has a diverse product portfolio and demonstrated reliability and consistency in their products and deliveries. The funds provided by the IPO could help EHang with an increased focus in a smaller market, and allow it to expand naturally in the coming years.

Source // AIN Online

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Uber Eats Unveils New Delivery Drone Design

03 November 2019 || 4 min read

Uber Elevate has officially unveiled a new VTOL drone designed for Uber Eats deliveries. The new Uber Eats drone was designed by Uber Elevate with speed in mind. To “increase speed and efficiency”, Elevate chose to use a rotating wing design. This means that the rotors will initially point upwards on take-off, lifting the drone into the air and then...

Uber Eats Unveils New Delivery Drone Design

03 November 2019 || 4 min read

Uber Elevate has officially unveiled a new VTOL drone designed for Uber Eats deliveries.

The new Uber Eats drone was designed by Uber Elevate with speed in mind. To “increase speed and efficiency”, Elevate chose to use a rotating wing design. This means that the rotors will initially point upwards on take-off, lifting the drone into the air and then tilting into the horizontal flight position seen above. The drone itself can carry enough capacity for about two meals, with a range of about 18 miles.

This new design is remarkably similar to the concept model drawn up by Uber Elevate for its future air taxis. Like the new drone, the model also utilizes the tilt-rotor design, using the same rotors for both vertical take-off and horizontal flight.

Uber Elevate’s concept design for air taxis. This design also features tilting rotors with a fixed wing for efficiency. Uber will work with partners such as Bell, EmbraerX, Boeing, and more.

Elevate plans to begin drone food deliveries in San Diego in Summer of 2020, having already applied for FAA approval to complete commercial flights there. The company already completed delivery tests in San Diego early last summer in partnership with McDonalds.

Food delivery by drone will be operated through Elevate’s ‘Cloud System’, which will eventually be responsible for managing passenger air taxis. Testing the Cloud System through drone deliveries, as well as through Uber’s new Uber Copter service, will allow Uber to begin laying the ground work for the coming future passenger aircraft.

Many other companies have initiated drone delivery efforts as well. Earlier this month, UPS became the first to receive full part 135 certification as a commercial air carrier using drones. Prior to this, Alphabet company Wing received a similar certification, although for a smaller area. Amazon too recently entered the industry with a new hexagonal drone design, hoping to even futher lower package delivery times. And just this week, aerial mobility company Volocopter unveiled a new drone designed for heavier cargo.

Why it’s important: Ultimately, beginning work on aerial mobility through food delivery by drone will help enable the future of Uber Elevate’s eVTOL air taxi vision. The important strides being taken throughout the drone delivery industry will provide important technologies and frameworks for the operation of the coming eVTOL passenger aircraft.

Sources: Forbes, Wired, The Verge.

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BLADE Urban Air Mobility’s new SoCal Offerings Target Untapped Aerial Mobility Market

31 October 2019 || 6 min read

BLADE Urban Air Mobility has expanded its offerings on the West Coast, now availing customers with direct, on demand flights connecting LAX, DTLA, Burbank, the Westside, Orange County, and more in Southern California. Months after the UAM provider brought their San Francisco Bay services into the public realm, they’ve continued to expand their West Coast market to include Southern California....

BLADE Urban Air Mobility’s new SoCal Offerings Target Untapped Aerial Mobility Market

31 October 2019 || 6 min read

Months after the UAM provider brought their San Francisco Bay services into the public realm, they’ve continued to expand their West Coast market to include Southern California.

BLADE’s Lounge in Downtown Los Angeles offers the chance to unwind before a flight to the West Side or LAX.

In an interview with BLADE’s General Manager of West Coast Operations, Shivani Parikh, and BLADE UAM Founder and CEO, Rob Wiesenthal, the new operations were described as an exciting new market for on-demand aerial mobility for the West Coast.

“Since expanding our continuous flight service in Manhattan and San Francisco, we are seeing faster-than-expected adoption by people choosing to fly rather than drive” Parikh stated. “Additionally, Los Angeles is on the forefront of embracing multi-modality transportation options such as auto, bike, and scooter shares as new ways of saving time. BLADE is now enabling another mobility option – the ability to fly short distances bypassing ground traffic on the way to work, home, the airport or to key leisure destinations. Los Angeles’ great weather contributes to an endless flying season for customers to take advantage of beating traffic in one of the most congested cities in the United States.

TransportUP’s Editor, Naish Gaubatz, went for a ride with the BLADE team in Los Angeles to demo the expansion of BLADE’s UAM offerings. The short helicopter ride highlighted the benefits of a dedicated urban air mobility operation in a congested city like Los Angeles – not only were the direct to heliport services at LAX a means to save time, the flight to the West Side showcased the ease of travelling along a route that would normally take almost an hour when the Northbound 405 Freeway is gridlocked (while the flight took less than 10 minutes and included spectacular views to boot).

BLADE operates Airbus H130 Helicopters in Southern California. The H130 is one of the safest and quietest helicopters in operation today.

Additionally, BLADE’s new expansion of services in Southern California play well with the culture of entertainment and luxury excursion that is signature of Los Angeles – and which many travel far to experience. In partnership with a variety of music, cultural, sporting, and large event programmers, BLADE has been able to capture a large amount of on-demand aerial mobility customers who are seeking better and faster ways to reach these marquis events. Not to mention, many of these experiences are accompanied with time at one of BLADE’s signature customer experience facets – the BLADE Lounge. Currently stationed in DTLA, the BLADE Lounge offers customers the chance to unwind with a drink before their flight, or complete some last minute work items. BLADE has stated that prices of flights between LAX, DTLA, the West Side, and Burbank will start at $195.

Many argue that BLADE is piloting UAM operations of tomorrow with a platform that’s functional today by utilizing the most technologically advanced, safest certified rotorcraft on the market. When asked about the transition between helicopters and eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) as the main aircraft that serve currently heli-dominated routes, CEO Rob Wiesenthal stated “We don’t see the transition as a step function change; there will be opportunities for customers on a limited basis to try eVTOL aircraft when they’re available, certified, and have a track record of performance – but even then the integration into BLADE’s accessible fleet will be measured”

Shivani Parikh also commented on potential future expansion plans for BLADE in SoCal to include Santa Barbara, San Diego, and desert cities on an “as demanded basis”. The general approach, commented Parikh, was utilize early adopting customer feedback campaigns that help to identify the areas for the largest benefit and refinement of BLADE’s current offerings.

Why it’s important: BLADE UAM has few competitors in Southern California – in fact, the closest entity to a competitor currently are helicopter charter services that require booking and coordination days, if not weeks in advance. With BLADE’s UAM platform, customers can book and be airborne in minutes, directly on the way to their destination. In cities like New York and Los Angeles alike, the last few miles of the journey can make all the difference in time savings, and BLADE’s expansion in SoCal could likely be the beginning of many more commercial UAM operations in Los Angeles.

Volocopter Air Taxi Makes First Urban Manned Flight in Singapore

27 October 2019 || 4 min read

On October 22nd, urban air taxi developer Volocopter successfully completed its first urban manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay. Not only was the latest demonstration flight the first manned test for Volocopter, it was the second ever test held in an urban flight setting following an autonomous urban flight test in Stuttgart, Germany. Volocopter has been planning this Singapore demonstration since...

Volocopter Air Taxi Makes First Urban Manned Flight in Singapore

27 October 2019 || 4 min read

On October 22nd, urban air taxi developer Volocopter successfully completed its first urban manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay.

Not only was the latest demonstration flight the first manned test for Volocopter, it was the second ever test held in an urban flight setting following an autonomous urban flight test in Stuttgart, Germany. Volocopter has been planning this Singapore demonstration since October of 2018, and the flight occurred right on schedule, marking a major success.

This flight represents a massive achievement for Volocopter, pushing its agenda ever closer to commercialized flight. The Volocopter team has been working extremely hard in the last year to push its urban mobility solutions. In just this year, it has published its own whitepaper study on urban air mobility, released its newest vehicle concept ‘VoloCity’, and worked with the ADAC foundation to complete a staged rescue mission.

The Volocopter 2X soars over Singapore’s Marina Bay.

The Singapore flight test was the last in Volocopter’s test series to validate and verify the ability of the 2X to fly over this area. The company, along with Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT), hopes to bring commercial air taxi flights to Singapore in the quickly nearing future. The latest test flight covered a distance of approximately 1.5 km and lasted for two minutes at an average cruising height of 40m.

“The flight today in Singapore was the most advanced Volocopter flight yet and the piloted flight was as stable as ever. At the same time, we are showcasing a prototype of our full-scale VoloPort Infrastructure, allowing for a realistic demonstration of air taxi boarding and maintenance services. Never before have people been this close to experiencing what Urban Air Mobility in the city of tomorrow will feel like.” -Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter.

In addition, the company unveiled in Singapore the world’s first full scale VoloPort in collaboration with ‘Skyports’, a vertiport designer and future operator. With the release of these two achievements, Volcopter hopes to demonstrate to the world the massive potential of eVTOL services.

Volocopter has been in development since 2011, and has since grown to 150 employees with offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore. The company is managed by CEO Florian Reuter, and has to date raised a total of 85 million euro in equity. Investors include Daimler, Geely, Intel Capital, BtoV, and Manta Ray Ventures.

Why it’s important: With this latest achievement, Volcopter takes a massive step forward to commercial flight, making history as one of the first eVTOL air taxis to complete a manned flight. The company has been working closely with Singapore’s Civil Aviation Authority since 2018, and has already completed numerous successful flight tests in other countries. With these market-leading achievements, Volocopter can easily hope to become one of the world’s first urban eVTOL air taxi operators.

Alphabet’s Wing and FedEx Offer Residential Drone Delivery Service

24 October 2019 || 4 min read

Alphabet’s Wing drones begin the delivery of select FedEx packages directly to Virginia homes. On October 18, for the first time in the United States, a drone completed a scheduled commercial residential delivery. The drone delivery was conducted by Wing Aviation, in collaboration with FedEx Express, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program...

Alphabet’s Wing and FedEx Offer Residential Drone Delivery Service

24 October 2019 || 4 min read

Alphabet’s Wing drones begin the delivery of select FedEx packages directly to Virginia homes.

On October 18, for the first time in the United States, a drone completed a scheduled commercial residential delivery. The drone delivery was conducted by Wing Aviation, in collaboration with FedEx Express, as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program (IPP). The FedEx Express package delivery to a home in Christiansburg, Virginia marks the launch of the first scheduled, commercial residential drone delivery service and the first scheduled e-commerce delivery via drone delivery trial in the United States.

For the duration of the trial, Wing drones will transport select FedEx packages to qualifying homes in Christiansburg, demonstrating the benefits of drone delivery for last-mile delivery service. Wing received an expanded air carrier certificate from the FAA earlier this year so it could demonstrate safe commercial operation in the larger Blacksburg-Roanoke area. Meanwhile, the FAA Approved UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries, making UPS the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification. Learn more about the launch of the company’s service and its collaboration with drone technology company, Matternet, here.

“Innovation has been part of the FedEx DNA since day one, and we are always looking for new and better ways to deliver the world to our customers’ doorsteps,” said Don Colleran, President & CEO of FedEx Express. “For our customers in Christiansburg, this collaboration will test the latest innovation in the last mile of a residential package delivery. We hope that this latest addition to our delivery options will enhance the last mile service for urgent same-day deliveries, customers in rural or semi-rural areas, and other exceptional delivery needs.”

Customers of FedEx who live within designated delivery zones in Christiansburg, Virginia, and who opt-in to the Wing delivery service, will be able to receive eligible packages via drone during the trial program, provided certain operating conditions are met. Wing’s pilot program also includes a collaboration with Walgreens, allowing program participants to order health and wellness products through Wing’s delivery app.

To learn more about Wing’s U.S. commercial drone delivery pilot program, visit wing.com/virginia.

Why it’s important: Although Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is limited by the region in which it can commercially operate its Wing drones, Virginia is showing to be a successful proving grounds. With the launch of home deliveries, Wing has also managed to beat out Amazon Prime Air in the pursuit of offering last-mile package deliveries via drone. However, there is still ample market share for manufacturers and operators to begin offering similar services, as intended by the FedEx-Wing and UPS-Matternet collaborations.

Source // FedEx Newsroom; Wing Aviation

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EHang Establishes UAV Control Center at Heydar Aliyev Airport

18 October 2019 || 3 min read

EHang and Azerbaijan Airlines join to manage UAV traffic at Heydar Aliyev International. The agreement was signed on October 9, 2019 in Baku by EHang Founder, Chairman and CEO Huazhi Hu and Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) President Jahangir Asgarov. EHang has recently made signficant strides in advancing the operations and implementation of its cutting-edge autonomous air vehicle (AAV) technologies, and is...

EHang Establishes UAV Control Center at Heydar Aliyev Airport

18 October 2019 || 3 min read

EHang and Azerbaijan Airlines join to manage UAV traffic at Heydar Aliyev International.

The agreement was signed on October 9, 2019 in Baku by EHang Founder, Chairman and CEO Huazhi Hu and Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) President Jahangir Asgarov.

Credit // EHang

EHang has recently made signficant strides in advancing the operations and implementation of its cutting-edge autonomous air vehicle (AAV) technologies, and is now considering filing for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO). The company continues to seek worldwide opportunities to increase deliveries of vehicles and begin flights in cities, proven by over 100 passenger-carrying autonomous test flights.

The command-and-control center will allow Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services (AZANS), the air navigation services provider for the Republic of Azerbaijan, to control UAV traffic on the airport’s premises and prevent the unauthorized use of UAVs. It will be fully integrated with the Azerbaijani air traffic control system, serving more than 500 aircraft daily, 300 of which are transit flights over Azerbaijan.

The command-and-control center will also equip AZANS with technologies including 3D mapping and terrain scanning to support airfield design and aerial navigation map development. A future web application could include UAV and pilot registration information, certification documents and permissions for flight procedures. As part of the agreement, EHang will also train UAV specialists at the National Academy of Aviation of Azerbaijan and build a UAV management simulator complex.

“UAVs represent a significant opportunity to optimize airport operations, but it is important to launch them into the right infrastructural framework,” said Hu Huazhi. “Our command-and-control center enables the seamless integration of new aerial mobility options into existing air traffic patterns and we are excited to partner with AZANS on this project, which paves the way for future partnerships with aviation authorities globally.”

Why it’s important: Heydar Aliyev International Airport has set a convincing precedent as it recently became the first airport in the world to completely switch to Cloud technologies. Now, the implementation of a UAV traffic management system further demonstrates ways by which airports can prepare for technological advancements in aviation and airspace management.

Lilium Looking To Raise Up To $500 Million

13 October 2019 || 4 min read

The company is in talks with investors for potentially their largest funding round to date The German startup is currently looking to bring up their financial position with a large jump. According to sources close to Lilium, the company has been talking with their investors to raise nearly half a billion dollars in their next round of funding; an investment...

Lilium Looking To Raise Up To $500 Million

13 October 2019 || 4 min read

The company is in talks with investors for potentially their largest funding round to date

The German startup is currently looking to bring up their financial position with a large jump. According to sources close to Lilium, the company has been talking with their investors to raise nearly half a billion dollars in their next round of funding; an investment which would be their largest to date. “It’s a very large round at a very large valuation,” said one venture capitalist to TechCrunch.

The specifics of this latest round are still unknown; Lilium has not divulged who will be participating in the funding round nor what the valuations might be. While the startup already has been backed by many large investors, such as WeChat owner and Chinese internet giant Tencent, Atomico, founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, Obvious Ventures, the early-stage VC fund co-founded by Twitter’s Ev Williams, LGT, the international private banking and asset management group, and Freigeist (formerly called e42), a fund led by Frank Thelen and backed in part by Christian Reber (co-founder of Wunderlist and now Pitch), this latest round of funding if successful would quintuple the current net worth of the company.

“It’s a known secret how hard it is to raise growth rounds in this space because it’s such a new and untested market,” an executive from another air-taxi startup noted. “Early investments were betting on the market vision and the concept of radically new mobility, but now it’s dawning on investors and others that it’s also a regulation play, and more.” That translates potentially to sustained costs, “and that may be one reason why it’s taking some time.”

With plans to “transform transportation” by producing and maintaining a fleet of eVTOL aircraft, Lilium founder and CEO Daniel Wiegand looks to secure the proper funds to achieve such a large task. “It’s not only a benefit in terms of relieving society from transit traffic, but the much, much bigger benefit would be that everyone can use it and that people can get to their destination five times quicker, basically a five times increase of their daily radius of life,” said Wiegand, “This connectivity is going to be a huge benefit to society but also economic growth.”

Lilium’s most recent funding round raised $90 million, lead by investors Tencent, Atomico, and Obvious Ventures. A target valuation of nearly half a billion would suggest that these big names could pop up again.

Why it’s important: A successful funding round by Lilium would signify the largest funding round of any aerial mobility venture to date, and allow for Lilium to realize their goals of both mass-producing their aircraft and to provide and maintain a wide-reaching aerial mobility service; a huge step forward ahead of any other company in the aerial mobility sector.

Source // TechCrunch

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FAA Approves UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries

10 October 2019 || 4 min read

UPS now operates the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification. UPS, which operates 564 owned and leased traditional airplanes, has long been in the business of delivering parcels as well as heavy cargo, and now plans to use drone technologies to expand its scope. The company plans to announce strategic partnerships with drone makers, designers of...

FAA Approves UPS as Drone Airline for Commercial Deliveries

10 October 2019 || 4 min read

UPS now operates the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification.

Photograph: UPS

UPS, which operates 564 owned and leased traditional airplanes, has long been in the business of delivering parcels as well as heavy cargo, and now plans to use drone technologies to expand its scope. The company plans to announce strategic partnerships with drone makers, designers of traffic-management systems, and customers such as retailers. As a certified airline operator, UPS prioritizes and specializes in logistics. Thus, it will continue to rely on the technologies of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to enable its vision, just as companies such as Boeing have supplied UPS with commercial jets for years.

Photograph: UPS

Prior to this month’s Part-135 certification acquisition, UPS has been conducting drone deliveries at a large hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina. The operations have been ongoing since March of this year, and are in collaboration with drone technology company Matternet. As explained in a recent press release, “the company will initially expand its drone delivery service further to support hospital campuses around the country, and to provide solutions for customers beyond those in the healthcare industry. UPS Flight Forward plans in the future to transport a variety of items for customers in many industries, and regularly fly drones beyond the operators’ visual line of sight (BVLOS).” In fact, the company has already completed its first flight BVLOS – immediately after acquiring the certification – by performing a revenue delivery at WakeMed’s hospital campus in Raleigh, N.C.

UPS has beaten out competitors, such as Amazon’s Prime Air and Alphabet’s Wing, as the first to receive a full Part-135 certification. This will allow the operator to begin revenue flights of its commercial drone service throughout the entire United States. Wing recently received a similar certification, but with limited scope – the company is currently permitted to operate only in Christiansburg, VA, and with only one pilot, under a ‘Single pilot air carrier certificate’.

Why it’s important: As stated by Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao in an FAA release on Tuesday, “this is a big step forward in safely integrating unmanned aircraft systems into our airspace, expanding access to healthcare in North Carolina and building on the success of the national UAS Integration Pilot Program to maintain American leadership in unmanned aviation.” The certification paves a way for future drone airlines to stand up commercial operations, without being restricted to line-of-sight or daytime flights.

Source // UPS Pressroom

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BLADE and NYU Langone Partner for Emergency Organ Transfers via Helicopter

02 October 2019 || 4 min read

The initiative will support critical organ movement for patients in need of transplants. BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc. (“BLADE”) has announced a partnership with NYU Langone Health to arrange on-demand helicopter transportation for NYU Langone Transplant Institute teams and donor organs. Expeditious transportation is critical for organ transplantation; for every hour an organ is outside of the human body, surgical...

BLADE and NYU Langone Partner for Emergency Organ Transfers via Helicopter

02 October 2019 || 4 min read

The initiative will support critical organ movement for patients in need of transplants.

BLADE Urban Air Mobility, Inc. (“BLADE”) has announced a partnership with NYU Langone Health to arrange on-demand helicopter transportation for NYU Langone Transplant Institute teams and donor organs. Expeditious transportation is critical for organ transplantation; for every hour an organ is outside of the human body, surgical success rates decrease materially.

As the “largest arranger of civilian helicopter travel in the United States,” BLADE is well-poised to make available its network of terminals, which currently span four states. The company has already implemented an expansive service in New York City, including continuous flight service between Manhattan and all NYC area airports.

“BLADE has made its dedicated aircraft and private network of terminals in four states available to aid NYU Langone transplant physicians with the lifesaving work they do every day,” said Rob Wiesenthal, BLADE’s CEO. “As the largest arranger of civilian helicopter travel in the United States, our platform is ideally suited to provide NYU Langone with

BLADE CEO Rob Weisenthal emphasized that NYU Langone will be provided “24/7 access to safety-vetted rotorcraft with as little as 20 minutes notice.” BLADE’s fleet of Bell 407 and Sikorsky S-76 helicopters are predicted to reduce the travel times of organs between NYU Langone and common donor hospitals by up to three hours. As an added benefit, these organ transplantation missions will be more cost effective than the previous, slower methods, while also improving outcomes for New York City transplant patients.

Not only is this application of aerial mobility technologies invaluable for the patients and institutes it serves, but it also provides BLADE and other companies with a way to begin standing up and improving upon operations. Vermont-based eVTOL manufacturer, Beta Technologies, similarly found this to be a potential path for developmental growth, and has been working toward a goal of transporting organs with United Therapeutics. The biotechnology firm provided an undisclosed amount of funding to Beta for the purpose of designing and testing its Ava XC aircraft, which has already undergone hundreds of flights.

Why it’s important: As part of its Urban Air Mobility Initiative, one of BLADE’s key long-term goals is to make short distance aviation more accessible through quiet, carbon neutral and cost effective aircraft (eVTOL). As seen by the focus placed by both Beta Technologies and BLADE, organ transplantation services are a feasible, humanitarian application of aerial mobility. It has great potential to open doors as the industry expands to operate and become regulated in services such as civilian transport and commercial logistics.

Amsterdam Drone Week opened this week, and urban air mobility took center stage.

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The Workhorse Group have officially let go of their Surefly and Horsefly to Moog Inc

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Uber and NASA are collaborating to simulate the future of eVTOL ridesharing services.

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GPMS developed a Health & Usage Monitoring System to serve emerging eVTOL applications.

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“CoMotion LA 2019: Where Innovation, Policy and Business come together to design the future of urban mobility”

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The company prepares for their predicted $100 million Initial Public Offering

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Uber Elevate has officially unveiled a new VTOL drone designed for Uber Eats deliveries.

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On October 22nd, urban air taxi developer Volocopter successfully completed its first urban manned flight over Singapore’s Marina Bay.

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Alphabet’s Wing drones begin the delivery of select FedEx packages directly to Virginia homes.

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EHang and Azerbaijan Airlines join to manage UAV traffic at Heydar Aliyev International.

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The company is in talks with investors for potentially their largest funding round to date

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UPS now operates the first official drone airline with a full Part-135 FAA certification.

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The initiative will support critical organ movement for patients in need of transplants.

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