28 February 2021 || 4 min read
Falck has announced a collaboration with Silicon Valley’s Kitty Hawk, a company known for its advanced eVTOL aircraft. The emergency response and healthcare company partnered with Kitty Hawk to establish a joint innovation platform involving Project Heaviside, Kitty Hawk’s latest eVTOL aircraft, to be used in EMS operations.
The partnership builds on Falck’s previous drone initiative, Vertical, which focuses on assessing the feasibility of drone technology in the prehospital and ambulance services of the future. Now with Project Heaviside, Falck aims to test and evaluate new technologies on a larger scale, making emergency healthcare more accessible and affordable. Project Heaviside is notable even among other eVTOL competitors for its noise level; the aircraft is exceptionally quiet while remaining fast and maneuverable. Project Heaviside has undergone 13 prototype designs and over 700 test flights since its launch. With this partnership, Kitty Hawk will also provide their engineering team with decades of experience in commercial aviation, aerospace, automotive engineering, flight testing, and industrial design.
Photograph: Kitty Hawk
“The agreement with Kitty Hawk takes us to the next level in our commitment to integrate eVTOL aircraft into our ambulance operations. Kitty Hawk brings the technology, while we at Falck contribute with our ambulance service area as a use case. This combination gives us the best conditions to investigate how we can jointly unleash the potential of new technology and develop the ambulance-borne health solutions which are likely to set the standard in the near future,” said Jakob Riis, CEO of Falck.
According to Sebastian Thrun, Co Founder and CEO of Kitty Hawk, “We are excited to be working with Falck to collaborate on bringing our Heaviside aircraft for emergency services, first in Denmark and then to other areas. Falck is an innovative leader in the area and this agreement marks a first and important step in making eVTOL available to more people.”
Falck expects to introduce Heaviside in a close collaboration with customers in Denmark and Europe, followed later on by those in the United States.
Photograph: Kitty Hawk
Why it’s important: This new partnership will integrate Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside into Falck’s Emergency Medical Services, which will give Heaviside an opportunity for real-world use, and help decrease Falck’s overall emergency response time. A successful application of the Heaviside within Falck’s program will help enable a successful commercial future for Heaviside, as well as eVTOL as a whole.
Source // PR Newswire
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