Category: Vehicles/Manufactures

The city of Pendleton, OR has completed construction of a $15M USD industrial park dedicated to UAS operators and manufacturers. The park is located on the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport and the city envisions the UAS range being used by stakeholders in the aerial mobility and last-mile delivery industries. 

Airbus’ Vahana eVTOL prototype completes a test flight at the Pendleton UAS Range earlier this year.

The city is nearing completion of two brand new 18,000 sq ft. hangars which will be ready in April 2021 for use on the range. The hangars are in addition to those purpose built for Airbus’ Vahana Project which has been operating at the airport for the past 2.5 years. 

Per the park’s website, “The Pendleton UAS Range (PUR) is able to facilitate a wide variety of testing needs through logistical coordination. PUR will work with you and your team to ensure that your Testing needs such as: Procedures Development, Engineering, Integration, Modeling and Simulation requirements are met though our organic capabilities and strategic relationships.”

For OEM’s in the aerial mobility space, the UAS range at Pendleton will offer the infrastructure needed to conduct a complete developmental and certification flight test campaign. The range also has the ability to supply chase aircraft for extended range operation as well as a Mobile Operations Center. 

Moreover, the airport is strategically located to maximize operational efficiency for OEM’s. In the high desert of Oregon, the area regularly experiences VFR conditions and has plenty of open airspace to conduct flight tests without interference from local traffic.

Why it matters: The opening of the Pendleton UAS Range signals a significant investment by the city for the aerial mobility industry. The city has built a world class facility with amenities to conduct a complete flight test campaign. OEM’s now have a plug and play solution when it comes to testing their prototypes in a safe and professional environment. Expect to see more neighbors join Airbus as the park takes on more tenants.

Source // Pendleton UAS Range website

BLADE Urban Air Mobility, a modern by-the-seat helicopter mobility company, has officially announced that its stock will soon be added to the NASDAQ for public trading. Blade expects this transaction to provide $400 million in gross proceeds, with trading starting in early 2021.

Passengers board a BLADE urban flight in Los Angeles. BLADE in Los Angeles allows for direct-to-destination airport transfers and more.

BLADE Urban Air Mobility is a pioneer in technology-enabled air mobility, providing affordable, on-demand, by-the-seat helicopter flights in urban areas, as well as other services. Recently, recognizing the global growth trend in urban air mobility, the company doubled down on its investment in urban air mobility technologies by creating its own urban air mobility initiative. This initiative will use Blade’s infrastructure, fleet, passenger, and route management protocols and assets to lay the groundwork for the air mobility demand that will be created by eVTOL technologies, with BLADE eventually planning to transition to eVTOL itself. BLADE notes that the urban air mobility industry is expected to be a $125 billion market by 2025 and grow to $650 billion over the next decade.

A BLADE helicopter disembarks in NYC

According to BLADE, funds from the NASDAQ raise will enable the company to expand new urban air mobility routes, its network of captive passenger infrastructure, as well as its consumer-to-cockpit technology stack, “accelerating its transition from use of conventional aircraft to eVTOL aircraft”. The company has already developed exclusive passenger terminal infrastructure in key markets, providing a
competitive advantage in locations that are geographically constrained from adding additional heliports, as well as received $38 million from Airbus and real estate company Colony Northstar to begin building additional Vertiport Infrastructure.

Why it’s important: These new funds will allow BLADE to further lay the groundwork for the massive increase in demand for urban air travel that will be brought on by eVTOL. Once eVTOL aircraft become certified for commercial passenger flight, BLADE will already be a major market leader in fleet and passenger management, infrastructure development and more, having already offered technology-enabled on-demand flights for several years.

In many cases, the degree of quality for battery performance in aviation equates to endurance: how long a given energy source can power an aircraft. In the aerial mobility industry, a large amount of focus is being directed towards increasing endurance times for energy sources, often by maximizing the efficiency of energy use per unit of time.

Often, endurance and performance are highly related. Australian Flying Car Racing development company Alauda is designing a battery system that identifies performance as the primary design constraint, in lieu of endurance, to allow for their prototype F1 style flying car racing aircraft to perform at the highest levels during the company’s self-created racing series. The result has been solutions that will improve both performance and endurance: Alauda’s design will enable its Airspeeder flying race cars to identify and optimize their battery systems for both performance output (power) and recharge times, and features a modifiable battery system that can be altered per mission requirements.

While the inner workings of the Airspeeder’s battery composition remain proprietary, the battery packs are modular, employing a sliding rail system that locks cells together and to the aircraft’s frame when installed. (Such a design allows for virtually instant “recharge” times, as depleted batteries are replaced by fully charged cells in lieu of being constantly recharged.) The modular system also allows for customization based upon flight leg – when a race or aerial mobility flight doesn’t span hundreds of miles, a smaller sized battery array (i.e. installation of less cells) could allow for a substantial weight reduction, resulting in performance or useful load increases. This option emphasizes the benefits of a flexible design architecture. For example, this same technology could be applied to cargo eVTOLs to increase payload capacity, range, or speed capabilities depending on the mission.

Alauda has underscored that their goal is to advance flight technology in the same way Formula 1 racing technology advanced the automotive industry – by applying cutting edge innovation to racing and allowing for that technology to mature and make its way to commercial applications.

Mock-up an the Aluada Airspeeder in flight

Why it’s important: Optimization of the propulsion system of eVTOLs and aerial mobility aircraft will be one of the most likely contenders for sustained performance improvements following initial certification of eVTOL aircraft for commercial use. Designs like Alauda’s Airspeeder give insight into what propulsion characteristics will be most important when developing and advancing new air vehicles.

After recently coming out of stealth mode, Santa-Cruz based Joby Aviation has purchased Uber Elevate (Uber’s air taxi hailing initiative), and received airworthiness certification from the U.S military, all in just one week of announcements.

Joby Aviation’s full-scale production-ready prototype in flight

For years, Joby Aviation existed on the eVTOL market, but little news was released on the eVTOL aircraft and its creator company. Then in January of this year, Joby announced $590 million in funding, partly from Toyota Corp. Now, the company has raised almost $1 Billion, and has made industry history by becoming the first company to receive air worthiness certification from the U.S military. Although the air worthiness certificate from the military is not certification to carry civilians or cargo commercially, it gives a significant stamp of safety approval on the aircraft, and may fast track its journey to certification by the FAA. With this certificate, the Joby Aviation eVTOL can now provide transportation of both personal and cargo for the U.S armed forces. This will give Joby the opportunity to further prove the safety and functionality of its electric aircraft, and make any necessary improvements before receiving FAA certification. The certification was mainly pushed by Agility Prime, a branch of the U.S air force that has been collaborating with partners in the eVTOL industry to help enable this new flight technology for the United States both for commercial and military applications.

In a landslide move, Joby Aviation has also acquired Uber Elevate, which is Uber’s initiative to make a network of on-demand air taxi transportation in major cities throughout the globe. Under the terms of the agreement, Uber as a company will remain a part of the partnership and the final overall product. What has been transferred to Joby is the groundwork Uber has laid to create air taxi networks in cities like Melbourne in Australia, and Dallas and Los Angeles in the United States. The end product will integrate both Uber’s ground transportation app and Joby’s air transportation app to provide a seamless travel experience for passengers. To grow this partnership, Uber has invested an additional $75 million in Joby Aviation, as well as a previously undisclosed $50 million made in January.

Why it’s important: While Joby Aviation remained secretive for much of its existence, the company is now leading the market for eVTOL aircraft in the United States. Uber Elevate was the world’s largest focused effort to make eVTOL available commercially, bringing together stakeholders in local and state governments, and real estate and technology companies around the world. With these resources now available to Joby, its path to market will be significantly expedited. Additionally, airworthiness certification from the U.S military will give Joby access to both direct and indirect funding, allow it to even more greatly prove safety during service for military operations, and help it bridge the gap into FAA certification for commercial operations. With these moves, Joby places itself at the front of the market for eVTOL within the U.S, and among the top companies in the world globally.

After committing to launching a commercial eVTOL platform in Singapore within the next two to three years, Volocopter has now announced that advance tickets for their eVTOL flight service, VoloFirst, have officially sold out. The VoloFirst flights, priced at $365 USD per ticket (€300), will consist of a short scenic routes, a 10-15 minute flight “over the Southern waters, offering breathtaking views of the Marina Bay skyline.” The initial VoloFirst flights are expected to commence sometime in 2023. 

The German aviation startup has been doing intensive work in Singapore for some time now, making strides in development and successfully performing several test flights, including a high-profile manned flight in late 2019. While Singapore is relatively untroubled by traffic congestion relative to other major urban centers (which is arguably the biggest driving factor for the rapid growth of the aerial mobility industry), the island-city state holds plenty of potential capital, as well as a strong tech research sector, both factors which seem to be leading Singapore to become a very valuable benefactor for Volocopter. 

Volocopter conceptual design. The company also recently performed a successful manned flight test in late 2019. Photograph: Volocopter

According to Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, “Singapore is renowned for its leading role in adapting and living new technologies. Our successful cooperation with the Economic Development Board, Ministry of Transport, and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore on our previous flight has shown that there is no better place in Asia to launch our electric air taxi services than in Singapore. The city’s research institutes conducting R&D play an integral part in this. Topics like route validation for autonomous operations, material science, and research regarding battery technology are very important for our long-term business success.”

In order to meet their deadline of just 3 years, Volocopter intends to build up a team of more than 200 in the coming years, and remains confident that they will be able to reach their goal on schedule. As of now, the biggest obstacle in Volocopter’s path is certification, not only with EASA authorities, but local Singaporean authorities as well before Volocopter will be able to service passengers. However with the relative simplicity of Volocopter’s design, especially in comparison to the designs of other competitors, it could be entirely possible to see eVTOLs ferrying tourists and early adopters alike in 2023. 

Why it’s important: Volocopter’s declaration of getting a commercial aerial mobility platform up and running in three years is an aggressive one, but is far from improbable. Considering both the simplicity of Volocopter’s eVTOL design as well as the expectation that initial flights will resemble tourist rides more than an actual method of commute, Volocopter’s goal is ambitious, but definitely possible. Volocopter’s aggressive approach is also completely understandable. Successfully getting their eVTOL platform up and running would have Volocopter passing one of the biggest milestones in the aerial mobility sector and be years ahead of most competitors. 

Source // New Atlas

Boston based Cleo Robotics was founded by Omar Eleryan to solve the problem of safely conducting inspections in tight confines within harsh environments such as the oil and gas industry, defense surveys, industrial applications, and first responder scenarios. The benefits of the solution to this problem may have much farther reaching benefits than the market that is now served.

As a Mechanical Engineer who worked in the oil and gas industry, Eleryan realized that his passion for flying drones and being involved in aviation might apply directly to the problem that he faced conducting work on a daily basis. This was the genesis of Cleo Robotics, and what is now called the Dronut. The Dronut is a 6″ diameter spherical electric ducted fan drone, scaled up from the original 3″ diameter model. What’s even more impressive than the small scale of Dronut is the amount of technology that Eleryan and his team have packed into such a small vehicle.

The Dronut uses a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and cameras to deflect thrust vectoring surfaces below the ducted fan that guide the Dronut through tight areas to capture imagery of the inside of chemical tanks, or a hostile building. After the imagery is obtained the Dronut returns back to the pre-programmed home base. Dronut features intelligent flight path guidance, meaning that operators can program a pre-defined imaging path which Dronut will follow, in addition to detecting and avoiding obstacles that may conflict with the proposed flight plan. This full technology suite contained within the small drone contains three kew features that could be applied to aerial mobility applications:

1. Flight path importation and route creation – aerial mobility providers could import or upload routes to aerial mobility aircraft via airspace management platforms that an aircraft would then follow to the destination.
2. Collision avoidance – while the flight plan is the recommended guidance for the aircraft, potential traffic conflicts could be avoided using detect and avoid (DAA) technology.
3. Thrust vectoring – possibly the most impressive feature of Dronut is the solution to the decades old problem of thrust vectoring of electric ducted fans. While many previous designs required multiple EDF’s to stabilize the vehicle, resulting in a tripod configuration, Dronut only needs one thrust vector that is smartly redirected by the vectoring surfaces mounted to the outboard perimeter of the ducted fan.

The Cleo Robotics Dronut’s charging station and controller

Additionally, Dronut’s cameras that provide the imagery capabilities required for conducting inspections could be used for tertiary purposes as well, including concurrent aerial imagery during commercial aerial mobility flights, or traffic monitoring and data sharing with other aircraft operating in nearby airspace. These capabilities have been recognized already, as the company received the AUVSI XCELLENCE Award and the New England Innovation Award for Robotics, both in 2020.

Why it’s important: Cleo Robotics has developed an integrated software and hardware package, one that’s particularly powerful since the required volume is small and the weight is low. These are key factors for effective aerial mobility aircraft that will require larger useful loads in order to carry fare paying passengers, medical transports, or other goods. While the company is currently focused on commercial applications of the Dronut, the intellectual property of the integrated autonomy package that Cleo has developed might possibly have an even larger value to future customers than the current hardware solution. In the meantime, however, there will likely be no shortage of demand for the current Dronut system, with strong interest from a number of commercial customers.

Rendering of how VerdeGo’s electric propulsion technology will integrate into an Airflow cargo eSTOL

Airflow, a company founded by the former developers of the Airbus Vahana project, is creating an hybrid-electric, short take-off and landing (STOL) cargo aircraft for medium-distance cargo transport. According to Airflow’s founders, the idea behind the eSTOL is to solve the need for cost-efficient, high-speed, middle mile transportation, without the need for increased airport infrastructure. For example, the eSTOL could provide transport directly between e-commerce warehouses on the outskirts of major cities.

To create this aircraft, which will use innovative distributed electric propulsion, Airflow has partnered with VerdeGo Aero. Founded by grandson of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, VerdeGo Aero is one of the only companies providing IDEP (integrated distributed electric propulsion) solutions to new aircraft developers. VerdeGo has been gaining momentum in the IDEP industry, having partnered with Seyer Industries, Continental Aerospace, and XTI Aircraft for its new cargo VTOL. The company also recently ramped up its development process by optimizing its Hybrid Electric powertrain and propulsion system for production and commercial use.

While the Airflow eSTOL is not a VTOL aircraft, it seeks to solve many of the same cargo transport infrastructure problems that VTOL might, using the same innovative electric propulsion technology to limit infrastu. Airflow believes that by integrating middle-mile air transportation directly into warehouses, companies can move goods around much faster without major infrastructure development or operational costs. The below photo shows how warehouses might integrate an eSTOL directly into their rooftops:

How warehouses rooftops could integrate with Airflow eSTOL operations

VerdeGo Aero’s diesel (Jet-A) hybrid system combines a 180KW generator with a high-power battery pack that reduces emissions and fuel burn by 35% compared to conventional turbine powertrains. Integrating VerdeGo’s hybrid-electric powertrain to the eSTOL platform enhances the aircraft’s mission capabilities by extending range to four to ten times that of a battery-electric system.

Said Marc Ausman, CEO of Airflow: “Our ability to rapidly move cargo from a warehouse directly to another warehouse helps e-commerce companies centralize inventory and reduce carrying costs. These capabilities are made possible by continued strategic partnerships like VerdeGo Aero”

Why it’s important: Like VTOL aircraft, the Airflow eSTOL will enable air travel directly between destinations, allowing companies to more efficiently and more quickly transport goods. Distributed hybrid-electric propulsion will make this technology possible for eSTOL as well as eVTOL, and by forming partnerships with Airflow as well as other key companies, VerdeGo begins to show mastery of the emerging market for this key technology.

Tangram Flex, Inc. has recently been awarded with a contract to support the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative. Based in Dayton, Ohio, Tangram Prime will primarily focus on how “flying cars could rewrite how the Air Force and civil society do logistics and transportation.”

The contract will mainly focus on support for lower cost testing, verification, and validation of software components for Agility Prime vehicles. According to Rick Peters, Tangram chief executive, “We are thrilled to continue supporting the Air Force on their most critical initiatives. Our team will continue efforts to commercialize tools for safe, secure, and efficient development and rapid integration of mission-critical capabilities with confidence.”

A conceptual Agility Prime vehicle render.
Photograph: Dayton Daily News

Agility Prime is the USAF’s initiative to develop and promote eVTOL aircraft and the aerial mobility industry, aiding companies in this pursuit. According to Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition,  “Despite COVID-19, we’re still very optimistic about the future, specifically around flying cars and how they might help the military and the world produce better logistics, better medical support and better disaster relief. We really want to be engaged in this emerging market in a very different way.”

Rick Peters, CEO of Tangram Flex.
Photograph: Dayton Daily News

Why it’s important: The U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative shows a strong commitment to the development of the aerial mobility industry in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. The benefits of being able to obtain contracts across both military and commercial sectors cannot be understated, especially for companies in a small but growing industry such as aerial mobility. 

Source // Dayton Daily News

The General Office of the State Council of the PRC has recently issued a circular proposing to accelerate the strategic development of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) in China. The circular urges to bring the development of UAM into China’s National Strategies and to formulate relevant policies and standards to promote the healthy development of the industry, with the intent being the accelerate the progress of China towards large scale, commercially deployed on demand aerial mobility operations.

The circular also included urges to speed up the legislative process and promulgation of the official Interim Measures for Flights Administration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). These measures intend to to establish a comprehensive regulatory mechanism for UAVs.

The circular also highlights the potential application of firefighting UAVs. It calls for establishing industrial standards and regulations to facilitate technological innovations that will promote industrial and practical applications of UAVs in aerial firefighting use cases – which indicates that companies such as EHang rightly have a seat at the table for these policymaking measures and are lobbying to attain provisions that benefit specific future use cases of the technology.

EHang’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, Huazhi Hu commented on the circular: “This circular issued by the State Council reflects the Chinese government’s great emphasis and strategic support for the new UAM industry. This will undoubtedly fuel the rapid development of UAM in China.”

Why it’s important: Integration of physical hardware on aircraft early on in the design process is crucial, and similarly, integration of policymaking is equally important to generate regulations that actually apply to the industry, are relevant, effective, and efficient in their guidance for deployment of larger scale operations. Where many regulations for fixed wing aircraft were established decades ago, the opportunity with aerial mobility to define again key regulations is a unique chance to create a dynamic but appropriate framework for the future. Authorities such as those in China are working away diligently, as are those in Europe and the United States. In a utopian sense, common regulation across national and continental boundaries would be the most relevant standardization of requirements, but it’s more than likely that differing political requirements and priorities would prevent such a scheme from ever coming to fruition.

Source // PR Newswire

AMSL Aero has unveiled the latest results of the development in their eVTOL aircraft, a full-scale prototype vehicle called the Vertiia. The Vertiia will be able to fly up to 800 km (500 miles) on hydrogen, and will start out as an air ambulance. Developed in conjunction with the University of Sydney and Mission Systems, AMSL Aero’s Vertiia is a transitioning multirotor eVTOL, with eight large propellers mounted on two wide carbon fiber poles extending from the upper tail and lower front of the fuselage. According to AMSL Aero, the Vertiia is rated to cruise at around 300 km/h (186 mph) and it’ll be piloted on debut, but will have autonomous capabilities built in, ready to come online when such things become legal.

The Vertiia will initially possess a range of around 250 km (155 miles) using battery-powered technology that’ll require long charges between flights. Eventually, AMSL Aero plans on extending the range to 800 km (500 miles) by replacing the batteries with a hydrogen powertrain, which will also enable quicker refueling. 

The Vertiia’s first consumer will be CareFlight, an aeromedical company that looks to use eVTOL as an air ambulance, providing aerial access to remote communities may not have the ability to receive conventional medical aircraft. AMSL Aero plans to have the Vertiia commercially available by 2023. 

AMSL Aero’s Vertiia
Photograph: AMSL Aero

Why it’s important: With the completion of a full-scale prototype, AMSL Aero has reached an important milestone in the development of the Vertiia, and can now begin flight tests in earnest. AMSL Aero has big plans for the Vertiia, aiming for both autonomous capability and hydrogen-powered flight in the future. While implementing these features as well as obtaining certification by 2023 will be no easy task, AMSL Aero’s current progress rate is an encouraging indicator of their future outlook.  

Source // New Atlas

Australian startup Airspeeder has been working on building an eVTOL ‘flying race car’ for several years. Now, after gaining many rounds of funding, several partnerships, and constructing multiple prototypes, the company is nearing completion of its full-scale air racer.

The completed ‘Alauda MK4’ will be a single-seater, lightweight, manned racing aircraft capable of flying at speeds up to 130km/h (80mph), up to 12 minutes per swappable battery. Airspeeder’s goal is to build momentum for the world of eVTOL by creating a high-speed racing grand prix series with its aircraft. Alauda MK4s will be equipped with Acronis cybersecurity software, which will allow for near-field head to head racing while preventing collisions.

In its latest developments, Airspeeder has hired Aaron Mourney, a new workshop technician, and Mitch Bannink as Chief Remote Pilot. The hiring of Bannink is particularly significant, as it indicates that Airspeeder is reaching the flight testing stage for the MK4. Airspeeder has already picked locations for its first air races, hoping to begin races as early as next year, and has even begun to seek out pilots to participate from backgrounds in military, civil UAV, motorsports and even E-Sports.

Airspeeder’s MK4 racer in the hangar

Why it’s important: Airspeeder is calling its MK4 aircraft the ‘Formula 1 of the skies’; as the intention of the air race series is push forward the industry of sustainable electric flight. The ultimate goal of Airspeeder is to make ‘flying cars’ a reality sooner rather than later, through the medium of motorsport, just as auto motorsport encouraged the development of affordable and accessible auto transport.