Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Announces Urban Air Mobility Partnership

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the creation of the Urban Air Mobility Partnership, an initiative that will help shape Los Angeles into one of the cities at the forefront of aerial mobility. Part of a public-private partnership between the Mayor’s Office, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), and Urban Movement Labs (UML), the Urban Air Mobility Partnership was formed in order to educate and engage LA’s residents with the idea of introducing aerial mobility by 2023. 

Los Angeles and Urban Movement Labs will lead a multi-stakeholder effort to visualize a vertiport and help Los Angeles identify and resolve challenges identified by local, diverse stakeholders surrounding public airspace and property rights.

“Los Angeles is where we turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s reality — a place where a barrier-breaking concept like urban air mobility can truly get off the ground,” said Mayor Garcetti. “The Urban Air Mobility Partnership will make our city a force for cleaner skies, safer transportation, expanded prosperity, and stunning innovation, and provide a template for how other local governments can take this new technology to even greater heights.” 

Working together, Los Angeles and Urban Movement Labs will lead a multi-stakeholder effort to visualize a vertiport and help Los Angeles identify and resolve challenges identified by local, diverse stakeholders surrounding public airspace and property rights. This one year partnership will also develop a policy toolkit that will be able to be utilized and deployed nationwide. 

With financial backing from the Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group, UML will also work together with Estolano Advisors to hire an Urban Air Mobility Fellow who will work towards advancing a comprehensive public engagement strategy for aerial mobility, including how it will strengthen the local economy, the schedule for when vehicles will take flight, and how it will impact and improve the local citizens’ daily lives. 

“Now more than ever, with so many suffering the impacts of a devastating pandemic, Los Angeles needs a resilient transportation network that can adapt to the needs of its communities with the flip of a switch,” said LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds. “As we prepare to include [aerial mobility] as a viable option for moving goods and people across our City, it is critical that we hear from stakeholders and design a system that works for all Angelenos.”

Why it’s important: With the city of Los Angeles now officially working towards this development, the Urban Air Mobility Partnership will set a powerful precedent for how diverse stakeholders can collaborate on a safe, community-centered approach to integrating aerial mobility technology into existing and new multimodal platforms.

Source // sUAS News