TransportUP

Workhorse SureFly and AirSpaceX MOBi-ONE at Detroit Autoshow

26 January 2019 || 3 min read

There was more than cars at the Detroit Auto show earlier this month-both AirSpaceX and Workhorse showed off their respective eVTOL designs. AirSpaceX, the creator of the MOBi-ONE (top), is a subsidiary of the Detroit Aircraft Corp. (DAC). The MOBi-ONE has a somewhat similar design to the Joby S4, with a 65-mile range, a top speed of 250mph, and capacity for 4...

Workhorse SureFly and AirSpaceX MOBi-ONE at Detroit Autoshow

26 January 2019 || 3 min read

There was more than cars at the Detroit Auto show earlier this month-both AirSpaceX and Workhorse showed off their respective eVTOL designs.

AirSpaceX, the creator of the MOBi-ONE (top), is a subsidiary of the Detroit Aircraft Corp. (DAC). The MOBi-ONE has a somewhat similar design to the Joby S4, with a 65-mile range, a top speed of 250mph, and capacity for 4 passengers plus 1 pilot. (This capacity is larger than many current designs and iterations).

I AirspaceX plans to both build and operate urban services for its eVTOL.

Said founder and CEO Jon Rimanelli, “MOBi-ONE will offer clean, quiet, and connected on-demand air mobility to the mass traveling public at an affordable price…Our vision is to mass produce aircraft leveraging lean automotive design and mass production techniques so our vehicles are affordable to the mass traveling public.” Learn more about the MOBi-ONE

Workhorse SureFly meanwhile (featured below) had a full-size prototype to Detroit’s Autoshow. Workhorse plans for the SureFly ‘Octocopter’ to be available directly to the public for purchase at $200k, rather than provide flights services like AirspaceX. Unlike many helicopters, the SureFly is semi-automated, making it far easier to fly. The company is currently trying to get FAA Certification to begin production and is hoping that anyone with a Sport Pilot license will be allowed to fly the aircraft. Learn more about the Workhorse SureFly

Workhorse SureFly (above) creator CEO Steve Burns believes the affordability, compact size, and ease of flight of the SureFly will make it accessible to the public in the near future for private ownership.

Why it’s important: The presence of these companies at the Detroit auto show shows the beginning of blending between ground and air travel. Until now, personal air vehicles have been reserved for inter-city travel, but with new vehicles like these, journeys once traveled by cars can soon by completed by air as well. With one company selling the vehicle itself and the other selling transportation services, the two allude to an impending multi-faceted industry.

Pipistrel and Honeywell to Collaborate on UAM Tech

24 January 2019 || 4 min read

From Pipistrel’s Press Release: Pipistrel and Honeywell combine aerospace expertise to address the technical, regulatory and business challenges of the emerging on-demand mobility market Pipistrel and Honeywell have signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) to collaborate on developing urban aviation technology. This effort will leverage Honeywell’s avionics, navigation, flight control systems connectivity, and other beneficial products and services onto a...

Pipistrel and Honeywell to Collaborate on UAM Tech

24 January 2019 || 4 min read

From Pipistrel’s Press Release:

Pipistrel and Honeywell combine aerospace expertise to address the technical, regulatory and business challenges of the emerging on-demand mobility market

Pipistrel and Honeywell have signed a MoU (memorandum of understanding) to collaborate on developing urban aviation technology. This effort will leverage Honeywell’s avionics, navigation, flight control systems connectivity, and other beneficial products and services onto a future Pipistrel vertical takeoff and landing air vehicle to support fully autonomous operations in the future.

“This is the beginning of a long-term relationship to collectively pursue the future of urban air mobility,” said Ivo Boscarol, Founder and President of Pipistrel. “Honeywell’s expertise in integrated avionics and flight control systems, systems integration, certification and manufacturing, combined with our capabilities in designing and developing advanced light aircraft, makes us the perfect pairing to advance the urban air mobility market. Pipistrel was chosen to be one of Uber’s vehicle development partners for their urban mobility solution, and our VTOL features next generation propulsion technology for achieving embedded lift. We have the concept which unlocks cost-attractive eVTOL opportunity by addressing efficiency and noise hurdles in vehicle lift, hover, and cruise stages of flight.”

Image // Pipistrel

Honeywell possesses more than 100 years of experience pioneering aircraft technologies across every application from commercial airliners to military platforms. This century of expertise and a wealth of technology innovation in avionics, navigation, propulsion and more has positioned Honeywell to effectively collaborate with Pipistrel on defining a future for the emerging urban air mobility space.

“The urban air mobility market is a challenging space, but one that Honeywell is well positioned to support and grow,” said Carl Esposito, president, Electronic Solutions. “Companies looking to make breakthroughs in urban air mobility face a wide range of technical, safety, certification and business challenges that come with developing a new mode of travel in an already very dense air traffic environment. An understanding of the aerospace complexities and legacy of innovative technologies can make all the difference in addressing this emerging market. Pipistrel is a well-known leader in the light-aircraft space, and this is an excellent opportunity to support its vision of a future vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with our industry-leading avionics, flight control systems, and other potential products and services.”

Pipistrel is a world leading small aircraft designer and producer, specialized in electric-powered aircraft. With 30 years of experience Pipistrel has gained significant international reputation and delivered unique, innovative products to passionate customers on all continents. First-to-fly an electric two-seater in 2007 and first-to-fly an electric four-seat airplane which went on to win the NASA Green Flight Challenge in 2011, Pipistrel has produced more than 1,500 aircraft to-date. The Pipistrel Vertical Solutions team has designed eight different electric aircraft since 2007 and has developed aircraft propulsion systems for NASA and Siemens’s aircraft. The company holds an EASA Design, Production and Maintenance Organization Approvals and has the capability of bringing a new aircraft design concept from a basic idea into a certified design, ready for production.

Why it’s important: This MoU established another partnership in the UAM space that is indicative of a recent trend for collaboration between aerospace companies to leverage individual strengths on the road to certification. By combining expertise, Pipistrel and Honeywell can focus on their strengths, respectively, and still end up with a superior product.

Learn more about Pipistrel’s eVTOL Concept here.

Subscribe to the Urban Aviation Newsletter and the Urban Aviation Podcast on iTunes.

3 steps to prevent the next Gatwick Incident

23 January 2019 || 6 min read

From 19 December to 21 December 2018, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport near London, England, following 67 reports of drone sightings close to the runway. The incident negatively impacted about 140,000 passengers and disrupted over 1,000 flights during peak holiday travel. Reactions by UK police, military, and government officials exposed a lack of preparation in responding to...

3 steps to prevent the next Gatwick Incident

23 January 2019 || 6 min read

From 19 December to 21 December 2018, hundreds of flights were cancelled at Gatwick Airport near London, England, following 67 reports of drone sightings close to the runway.

The incident negatively impacted about 140,000 passengers and disrupted over 1,000 flights during peak holiday travel. Reactions by UK police, military, and government officials exposed a lack of preparation in responding to unlawful drone incursions.

All in all, a spokesperson for Gatwick Airport estimates the total cost to the airport and airlines at £20 million in lost revenue. As of writing this article, the perpetrator, or perpetrators remain at large, and another suspected drone sighting affected Heathrow Airport on 8 January.

Unfortunately, many airports, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), civil aviation authorities (CAAs) and governments around the world are not yet prepared to respond to drone incursions and are understandably worried that they could be affected by similar incidents.

Many early reactions have called for counter-UAS (unmanned aerial system) technology as the most effective solution for prevention. Of course, there is a key role for these systems in airport safety, but they are a last resort against criminals. Without the ability to remotely identify good actors from bad ones, these counter systems will be constrained as drone operations scale.

Thankfully, a lot can be done today to reduce the risks of drone incursions to a manageable level that only requires basic regulation and technology. Here are three concrete steps that airports and aviation authorities can take to keep airports safe from unwanted and/or criminal drone activity.

Step 1: Implement a registration mandate with easy-to-use technology

Airspace authorities should establish clear regulations that require all drone operators to register themselves and their aircraft along with a simple, streamlined process for doing so.

Implementing a digital registration system is relatively easy – drone operators can enter name, contact, and aircraft details on an internet-enabled device, which populates a secured registration server, that also attest identities and authenticate users. Access to registration data is managed by authorized personnel, with appropriate personally identifiable information (PII) protections in place.

Mandatory registration can also require that a drone operator self identify in order to get authorized access to fly in controlled airspace near airports. Registered operators are responsible actors who have demonstrated intent to operate in compliance with regulations.

Step 2: Enforce civil aviation regulations with a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system

Popular drone manufacturers already implement geofencing options, and firmware updates to meet national airspace regulations. In practice, geofencing prevents a drone from flying in restricted, controlled and other unsafe airspace, which helps ward against illegal drone operations by careless and clueless operators.

Geofencing can be “unlocked” for authorized drone operators, such as airport maintenance staff or law enforcement operators, by connecting to an Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system with services and procedures designed to support safe, efficient and secure access to airspace for drones. These services include registration, flight planning, geofencing, airspace authorization, conformance monitoring, telemetry, deconfliction, and remote identification, among others.

The right UTM system analyzes operator details, flight path information, real-time air traffic positions, and more, to enable airspace authorities to grant permission-based access to drone operators in controlled airspace, either manually or programmatically as already implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (FAA LAANC) programme. The result is enablement of safe drone operations while controlling against non-compliant or illegal activity.

With all “good actors” participating in the UTM system, aviation authorities can visualize, monitor, and track real-time manned and unmanned aircraft telemetry for deconfliction. Participating drone operators can be remotely identified by their aircraft, flight path, and/or registration details and can be contacted directly for risk mitigation.

Step 3: Combine UTM with counter-UAS system for a complete picture of an airspace operating environment

Intentional bad actors that are not registered are not included in the UTM system and do not follow the appropriate authorization procedures to access controlled airspace. These illegal operators may also hack their drones, unlocking geofencing, or spoofing their location.

In these instances, the integration of counter-UAS (C-UAS) technology into the UTM system provides the ability to identify all aircraft movements within the controlled airspace. Information related to any aircraft detected by C-UAS is exchanged with the UTM system and remotely identified as either collaborative (registered) or non-collaborative, requiring intervention.

Much of the reaction to the Gatwick incident has centered on counter-UAS technology as the answer to all illegal drone operations. But as drone operations near airports scale with enterprise demand, C-UAS alone will not be sufficient in determining whether a drone operation requires intervention because not all drone operations at airports are unlawful. Detection must be coupled with UTM intelligence to adequately inform, and ensure the safety and smooth operations of all airports.

Written by Ben Marcus, Chairman and co-founder of AirMap.

This story first appeared on the World Economic Forum Agenda Blog.

The Secret Ingredients for Flying Cars in 2019

22 January 2019 || 7 min read

The transportation industry has been at a crossroads between convention and innovation for the last 10 years. In the next 10, we’ll complete the next biggest thing since the advent of the jet engine following World War II. Transportation, medicine, finance, and real estate: all industries that at one point or another undergo a transformation. While some of these periods...

The Secret Ingredients for Flying Cars in 2019

22 January 2019 || 7 min read

Transportation, medicine, finance, and real estate: all industries that at one point or another undergo a transformation. While some of these periods of “redefinition” are slow, others are step function inputs of technological progress, scientific research, or novel approaches to best business practices. Fortunately, the key indicators for large changes (while uncommon in specific mechanism) share commonality among the environments which spark the cycle of rapid development.

For aviation, there were two such sparks, arguably three: the Wright Brothers (powered flight), the jet engine (World War II), and spaceflight (The Cold War). Two of these three periods of innovation were bred from necessity, and the first from (arguably) desire for adventure and pursuit of overcoming adversity. While it may be easy to retroactively claim that two brothers yearned to fly in a powered machine, or that the fastest aircraft would win battles in war, or even that the first country in space could possibly end up controlling the world, it’s harder to pinpoint realtime the complex psychology of a herd mentality that has shifted far enough, for long enough, to initiative substantive change.

Aircraft like the Rolls-Royce ACCEL are paving the way for electric propulsion systems in aircraft that can readily be applied to the eVTOL market

One common thread today is the initiative for responsible development and management of the earth’s resources, while another is the idea of providing larger breadth in access to the benefits of transportation to the world. A third, and arguably most powerful motive, is the idea that we’ve spent long enough being complacent with increasingly smaller “advances” to our technology to such a point where an actual leap must be made. It was over 50 years ago that man landed on the moon using a computer with 2048 words of RAM. A normal laptop computer could have provided the necessary computing resources for 100’s of thousands of Apollo missions concurrently, and yet we haven’t returned.

While the moon isn’t necessarily a good benchmark (there are other political and environmental factors at play) the idea that we haven’t accomplished something of the same magnitude in so long is reason enough to raise the question – when will we?

The answer is simple: we’ve been doing so for the last 10 years.

Fly Blade Air Taxis have taken advantage of some of the market that once flew on New York Airways, but on a more private and semi-private scale. UAM intends to democratize the availability of commercial eVTOL transport.

It could be argued that Urban Aviation started in the early 1950’s with the advent of New York Airways, shuttling passengers to and from Manhattan regularly. Unfortunately, a crash in 1977 ended that airline, and widespread urban commercial aviation operations haven’t returned since. However, since 2009, a number of Urban Air Mobility companies have been working tirelessly to make the industry a reality. A lot has been learned since 1977, to the point where Morgan Stanley claims that by 2040, UAM will be a $1.5 trillion dollar industry. We’re much closer to 2040 than 1977, and the level of investment in the industry (over $1 billion USD in 2018 alone) is providing the resources for rapid growth.

A $1.5 Trillion Dollar valuation is massive, but considering the magnitude of technological advancement that’s being baked into this industry, more attainable than the sticker shock implies. Here are some of the key watch items for Urban Air Mobility in 2019 that will continue the progress toward a track of commercial application in 2023 and that $1 Trillion + valuation in 2040:

Distributed Hybrid Electric Propulsion – By taking advantage of distributed hybrid electric propulsion, the UAM industry can leverage gas turbine strengths while also realizing the benefits of reduced energy requirements during the cruise and descent phases of flight.
Smart Avionics – While there’s a large push for complete autonomous operation of urban aircraft (and in many cases the technology will be installed on urban aircraft to support complete autonomous operations) the initial commercial operation of UAM will not be autonomous. Public sentiment and regulatory requirements mean that autonomous operations aren’t necessarily ready today – not for the sake of technological readiness, but rather for societal readiness.
Flight Testing & Certification Processes – for a number of OEM’s, the flight testing and certification process is already well underway. The dialogues that occur during 2019, and the resulting certification paths forward from these relationships between OEMs and regulatory agencies will define future, steady state interactions for the current group of earlier-stage urban aviation OEM’s.
Composite Manufacturing – Composite manufacturing is difficult at small-scale, and even harder at large scale. Innovative techniques for manufacturing composites at scale will prove to be some of the highest value-add propositions that the UAM industry may lend to the rest of industrials.
Low-Altitude Airspace Management – UTM technology is another watch item for 2019. The application of UTM technology in the US and globally is spreading quickly. Hear Ben Marcus, Chairman and Co-Founder of AirMap, the world’s leading low-altitude airspace management platform, explain how.
Battery Technology – Why wouldn’t a Tesla battery work for an air taxi? TransportUP explained why in this article. (The TL;DR version is that we haven’t achieved the necessary energy densities required for revenue-generating commercial operations yet, and the rate of progress is pretty slow). If the “secret sauce” of increased battery energy is discovered, expect things to pick up, very rapidly.

Why it’s important: The common thread – innovative application of existing technologies. Besides brand new battery technology, most of the watch items listed for 2019 have existed for some time – but what hasn’t is the combination of all of them on the same system. A number of moving parts must perfectly sync for UAM to realize commercial usage in 2023, but we made the moon in ’69 with that 2048 word RAM guidance computer. The odds look good for UAM.

Want to learn more about urban aviation? Subscribe to our Urban Aviation Newsletter and our urban aviation podcast on iTunes to learn about how the leaders in the UAM industry are developing their technology in 2019.

FAA Testing Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management System

20 January 2019 || 3 min read

In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is testing an Unmanned Traffic Management airspace system that will lead to delivery drones and eventually to passenger drones. Although testing at the Northern Plains site in North Dakota is primarily focused on smaller aircraft flying under 400ft (such as drones), Director of Research and Development Chris Thielen has acknowledged the eventual need...

FAA Testing Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management System

20 January 2019 || 3 min read

In Grand Forks, North Dakota, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is testing an Unmanned Traffic Management airspace system that will lead to delivery drones and eventually to passenger drones.

Although testing at the Northern Plains site in North Dakota is primarily focused on smaller aircraft flying under 400ft (such as drones), Director of Research and Development Chris Thielen has acknowledged the eventual need to expand to testing of larger aircraft at higher altitudes.

The testing at Nothern Planes is part of NASA and the FAA’s development of an Unmanned Aircraft System Management System. The ultimate goal of this research is to “identify airspace operations requirements to enable safe visual and beyond visual line-of-sight drone flights in low-altitude airspace.” This includes requirements for software, information sharing, performance and more.

Companies like Amazon, Uber (for UberEats,) Google, and more have already expressed plans to developed on-demand drone delivery, while Boeing has already co-founded SkyGrid alongside AI firm SparkCognition.

UAS Research being conducted Northern Plains UAS Test Site in North Dakota

Many of the concerns that exist regarding UAS (unmanned aerial systems) have also been expressed about eventual passenger drones/Urban Air Mobility (UAM). At a House Aviation Subcommittee UAS Hearing, these were named as the following:

Safety
- Drones and UAM vehicles will fly at lower altitudes than traditional aircraft
- Drones and UAM vehicles will land in places other than airports
Noise & Privacy
- Drones and UAM aircraft have the potential to disturb ‘tranquil areas’
- Drones and UAM aircraft could gather detailed information about private property.

The potential future of Urban Airspace as illustrated by NASA.

Ideally, regulatory decisions for UAS systems being developed at Northern Plains will pave the way for standards required of larger autonomous passenger aircraft. Already, most Urban Aviation companies like Uber, EHANG, Lilium, Volocopter, VRCO, and Vertical Aerospace, and more are planning on eventually rolling out autonomous air taxis services.

Illustration of a potential Uber Elevate ‘Skyport’

Why it’s important: With continual progress being made on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) research and regulation by NASA and the FAA, the regulatory groundwork is also being laid for passenger vehicles with eventual autonomy. Testing plans are currently scheduled to run through 2020.

The Onyx eVTOL by Imaginactive

17 January 2019 || 3 min read

The idea behind the Onyx is to create an eVTOL ‘flying car’ that won’t need a change in the infrastructure around it. For this reason, the Onyx is designed to fit into a standard car parking space. Designed by Charles Champagne and Jorge Ciprian of Imaginactive, the Onyx has six rotors: four in the front and two in the back. Like the...

The Onyx eVTOL by Imaginactive

17 January 2019 || 3 min read

Designed by Charles Champagne and Jorge Ciprian of Imaginactive, the Onyx has six rotors: four in the front and two in the back. Like the EHANG 184, each rotor set-up has one propeller on each side, making for a total of twelve rotors on the Onyx. Despite its compact SUV size, the Onyx can comfortably fit two passengers.

Passengers can exit and enter the sides of the vehicle through a glass-roof paneling

Although there still exists major regulatory barriers to employing a craft like the Onyx, companies like Uber, Boeing, and more are already working with government entities in multiple countries to set standards and rules for these aircraft. Particularly, NASA has recently set up the Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge series, the first event of which will take place in 2020 and will give companies the opportunity to exhibit the airworthiness of their aircraft and begin laying the benchmarks for regulatory law.

At Imaginactive, Charles Champagne and Jorge Ciprian hope that their design will enable traditional road vehicle spaces to be used for docking and recharging, making the Onyx more accessible than other eVTOLs that need helipad-sized landing spaces. The Onyx would also come with interchangeable battery packs that would allow for all-day urban transportation.

Why it’s important: The Onyx represents yet another innovative eVTOL design aimed at more quickly introducing eVTOLs into public life. While there has been no news yet from Imaginactive about whether the Onyx will be brought into the prototyping stage, the spread of this kind of design thinking shows the continuing proliferation of the world’s focus on eVTOL transportation.

GAMA And Urban Air Mobility

16 January 2019 || 3 min read

The General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association (GAMA) has acknowledged the progress of the urban air mobility industry as it continues to work with regulatory bodies to provide definition for certification paths of Urban Aircraft. With the sheer volume of investment in the urban air mobility industry within the last year (read – the figure tops $1 Billion USD) the rate of...

GAMA And Urban Air Mobility

16 January 2019 || 3 min read

With the sheer volume of investment in the urban air mobility industry within the last year (read – the figure tops $1 Billion USD) the rate of development of urban aviation is continuing to increase. Greg Bowles, GAMA’s vice president for Global Innovation and Policy, recently wrote that the promise of urban aviation is coming to be realized.

Indeed, the momentum of urban air mobility continues to build. Studies from Booz Allen Hamilton and Porsche Consulting, as well as Morgan Stanley, indicate that the UAM space may become a $3 Billion Dollar industry by 2035, and that by 2025 limited commercial operations of urban aircraft will be in service. (For more information on their studies, be sure to check out TransportUP’s podcast episode with Booz here). GAMA for one is playing a role in helping to shape the dialogue of this process by promoting the sharing of knowledge across boundaries, a practice that is not always commonplace among aerospace firms – and almost more importantly, to help to define the certification path for many of these urban aircraft in the future by working with regulatory agencies such as the FAA and EASA.

Why it’s important: The General Aviation Manufacturer’s Association is playing a critical role in the advancement of the entire UAM industry by providing the grounds necessary for discussions on the certification and testing of a new generation of aircraft. While GAMA doesn’t side with any particular manufacturer, the efforts of the association have underscored the importance of working with regulatory bodies during the design process of aircraft instead of relying on regulation that is dynamic enough to provide for certification of a huge variety of designs.

Elon Musk and Flying Cars

15 January 2019 || 4 min read

While in the Elon Musk has past expressed opposition the idea of Urban Air Mobility, his recent actions may suggest a possible change of heart. In a 2017 Tweet, Musk brought up the possibility that the optional rocket tech package for the future Roadster will allow it to ‘fly short hops‘. According to Musk, “the SpaceX option package for new Tesla...

Elon Musk and Flying Cars

15 January 2019 || 4 min read

While in the Elon Musk has past expressed opposition the idea of Urban Air Mobility, his recent actions may suggest a possible change of heart.

In a 2017 Tweet, Musk brought up the possibility that the optional rocket tech package for the future Roadster will allow it to ‘fly short hops‘. According to Musk, “the SpaceX option package for new Tesla Roadster will include ~10 small rocket thrusters arranged seamlessly around (the) car…Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities.”

Most recently, his suggestions of a flying Tesla Roadster have been growing stronger. Just last week he tweeted the following:

The new Roadster will actually do something like this https://t.co/fIsTAYa4x8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2019

With this post, he mentioned claimed that the Tesla “will use SpaceX cold gas thruster system with ultra high-pressure air in a composite over-wrapped pressure vessel in place of the 2 rear seats.”

At a TED Talk in 2017, Musk strongly opposed flying cars, with the premise that UAM vehicles are noisy, produce wind pollution, and will cause anxiety for people living beneath them. But in a recent note to clients this December, he mentioned, “Tesla has expertise in batteries, AI software, complete vehicle engineering, charging infrastructure and material science that we believe may have transferability to the autonomous aircraft domain”.

Although the jury is still out on which direction Musk will take with flying vehicles, he has continued to work on the ‘The Boring Company’, which plans to build large series of car-moving tunnels under urban areas to eliminate traffic. You can learn more about the Boring Company idea in Musk’s 2017 TED Talk, where he discusses the Boring Company in depth and explains he’s chosen the underground tunneling solution rather the skies. The Boring Company’s FAQ’s page also mentions the reasoning behind this choice.

The Boring Company and Uber Elevate plan to launch in Los Angeles within five years.Why it’s important:
While Musk has expressed opposition to the UAM solutions in the past, it’s possible that his interest in flying vehicles (as expressed by the potential flying capabilities of the upcoming Tesla Roadster) may lead him to make contributions to the autonomous air vehicle space with Tesla and SpaceX’s AI, battery, and vehicle engineering tech. Although Uber Elevate and Musk’s Boring Company are in competition for eliminating congestion, Musk may decide to contribute to a future that is both in the skies as well as under the earth.

Zeva Zero’s First Flight

14 January 2019 || 3 min read

A sub-scale prototype of the Zeva Zero has taken to the skies. The prototype, which was flown outside of Tacoma, WA, where the Zeva team is based earned the company a Phase II spot in Boeing’s GoFly Competition. CFD analysis of the sub-scale model show that the full-scale prototype will fly at speeds approaching 160mph. The Zeva Zero takes off...

Zeva Zero’s First Flight

14 January 2019 || 3 min read

A sub-scale prototype of the Zeva Zero has taken to the skies.

The prototype, which was flown outside of Tacoma, WA, where the Zeva team is based earned the company a Phase II spot in Boeing’s GoFly Competition. CFD analysis of the sub-scale model show that the full-scale prototype will fly at speeds approaching 160mph.

The Zeva Zero takes off and lands vertically, and transitions to forward flight by slowly decreasing angle of attack and increasing airspeed until the body of the aircraft creates enough lift for forward flight. The Zeva Zero will be flown during the October 2019 fly-off in the Boeing GoFly competition, and will be competing for the $1 million purse.

The Zero is a personal air vehicle, or PAV – which means that it is not intended for large scale commercial operations, but rather as a device for personal mobility. A number of other teams and universities are competing in the Boeing GoFly competition, with a total of 10 companies winning Phase I of the competition. Zeva is currently sponsored by the ANSYS Startup Program and has selected an all-electric design for their contest entry.

Additionally, the Zero’s intended size may be an advantage of the craft: two can fit into a standard one-car garage, making them significantly smaller than the majority of eVTOLs that are intended to transport larger numbers of passengers.

Why it’s important: Zeva’s Zero aircraft adopts an unconventional approach to vertical takeoff and landing aircraft configurations – much like the Vought V-173 flying pancake, the aircraft uses a semi-circular body for lift generation – but unlike the V-173 is completely vertical during takeoff and landing. While it can only carry a single passenger, the goal of Zeva is not commercialization of eVTOL transport, but rather sharing the excitement of flight with the world.

Learn more about the Zeva Zero here.

This Year’s Top Urban Air Mobility Highlights

13 January 2019 || 2 min read

2018 (and even early 2019) has been a big year for urban air mobility, with companies the world over preparing for impending launches of their passenger drones and air taxis. Here’s the past year’s biggest highlights: You can read more about the above-featured stories here: ...

Workhorse Group Acquires $35 Million to Fund Electric Vehicle Orders

08 January 2019 || 3 min read

Workhorse Group has secured funding from Marathon Asset Management, which will provide funds in two separate tranches. A $10 million lump sum will be paid out and used principally to satisfy repayment of the July 2018 senior secured notes. The remaining $25 million will function as a revolving credit facility from which Workhorse may draw down as necessary to meet existing...

Workhorse Group Acquires $35 Million to Fund Electric Vehicle Orders

08 January 2019 || 3 min read

In June of 2018, UPS had placed record-breaking order for 950 Workhorse electric delivery trucks, which jumpstarted the electric vehicle startup.

Marathon Asset Management is a global investment advisor based in New York, NY with approximately $15 billion of capital under management, according to a release. “The firm pursues credit through a broad spectrum of investments in global corporate credit, distressed and special situational credit, structured credit, emerging markets and leveraged loans. A perfect fit for Workhorse’s needs, Marathon is uniquely positioned to quickly create innovative financing solutions that fit within Workhorse’s existing capital structure and its business objectives.”

Visit The Hangar to read more about the Workhorse Surefly’s technical specifications.

Workhorse CEO Steve Burns remarked:

“Marathon is the right strategic partner for Workhorse’s current capital needs, and we plan to leverage their experience, size and resources to further support our growth as a company. This agreement provides meaningful, near-term funding that will go directly toward building and delivering vehicles to customers in 2019. Additionally, we have repaid, in full, our previous debt obligations from July, which will remove all covenants associated with that arrangement, including the obligation to sell our eVTOL aircraft, SureFly. Going forward, our primary goal for both current and future capital initiatives is to leverage the best available financing solutions that will provide liquidity and favorable economics.”

Further, Duane Hughes, Workhorse President and COO, added:

“Completing these financial transactions and developing these strategic relationships are additional key steps in our long-term capital strategy. We plan to implement these measures and other near-term initiatives in the coming months to help drive continued growth in both sales and profitability.”

Why it’s important: As Workhorse competes for market share with other electric truck and delivery vehicle companies, this additional funding enables continued company growth and order fulfillment. Furthermore, immediate access to additional capital satisfies existing obligations to debt repayment and widens opportunities for sale of the Surefly eVTOL octocopter.

Bell Flight Unveils Nexus Prototype at CES 2019

07 January 2019 || 5 min read

Bell Flight has released its Nexus Air Taxi prototype at CES 2019. The vertical mobility company claims that the Nexus air taxi will weigh roughly 6,000 pounds, be able to fly at 150mph, and have a range of 150 miles. Bell Flight also announced that the air taxi will use augmented reality, as well as intelligent interior design to provide...

Bell Flight Unveils Nexus Prototype at CES 2019

07 January 2019 || 5 min read

Bell Flight has released its Nexus Air Taxi prototype at CES 2019.

The vertical mobility company claims that the Nexus air taxi will weigh roughly 6,000 pounds, be able to fly at 150mph, and have a range of 150 miles. Bell Flight also announced that the air taxi will use augmented reality, as well as intelligent interior design to provide a signature passenger experience that doesn’t compromise safety.

Image // Bell Flight

One of the important design selections that Bell Flight revealed was the decision to use a hybrid-electric propulsion system on the Nexus: featuring 6 ducted fans that have variable tilt angles to facilitate vertical takeoff and landing, as well as accelerated forward flight. The blades will be 8 feet in diameter. The Nexus builds from Bell Flight’s reveal of the passenger cabin of their “Air Taxi” at CES in 2018, which would eventually become the passenger cabin of the Nexus.

There are a few important distinctions that Bell Flight has underscored in the design of the Nexus; namely, the decision to bypass autonomous operation (at least in the early stages of flight operations) and also to use a hybrid-electric propulsion system. Other urban aviation companies are pursuing one of these design selections, but hardly any have down-selected both. The Nexus will carry four passengers and have one pilot, which fits with Uber’s eCRM standards for revenue-generating commercial air taxi operations. A commonly cited shortcoming of many air taxi designs is the passenger capacity – at least 3 (and preferably 4) are needed if a pilot is to be onboard the aircraft in order for commercial operations to prove profitable.

Image // Bell Flight

Additionally, Bell Flight has outsourced a larger portion of their design than many other eVTOL companies have – companies like Garmin, Thales, Moog, and Safran will provide avionics, flight control computers, flight control hardware, and the non-electric propulsion system, along with EPS providing batteries. Lastly, the design also keeps safety in mind: if one of the rotors fails, the aircraft will be able to land itself, and if the gas-turbine should cease operation, the small onboard battery will have enough power to allow the Nexus to land safely as well. Even the battery itself has containment cells that should prevent the spread of any undesired combustion.

Image // Bell Flight

Bell Flight’s experience in mass-producing helicopters and other aircraft will prove valuable as the company begins their production phase. Common among urban aviation manufacturing challenges is complex geometry composite fabrication at scale, as well as integration of entirely new systems, like that of the hybrid electric propulsion planned to be used on the Nexus.

Image // Bell Flight

Why it’s important: Bell Flight has finally released their prototype for their Air Taxi, which was kept under wraps less the release of the cabin mock-up of the then “Bell Air Taxi” at CES in 2018. The company’s announcement that the aircraft will be hybrid-electric, along with the confirmation that Bell Flight will be partnering with a number of well-respected aerospace companies on their eVTOL design adds much-desired clarity and definition to the path forward for Bell.

Learn more about the Bell Nexus here.

UAM Aircraft Prototypes On Display at CES

05 January 2019 || 4 min read

From January 8-11, Las Vegas, Nevada will host the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, known as the “global stage for innovation”. According to the Consumer Technology Association – the owner and producer of the trade show – “CES is the world’s gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. It has served as the proving ground...

UAM Aircraft Prototypes On Display at CES

05 January 2019 || 4 min read

Doug Newcomb, Senior Industry Analyst of Mobility at Wards Intelligence, will moderate a conference addressing several companies that are building flying cars for both commercial and leisure purposes. Massimo Martinotti, Head of Mobility Solutions at Italdesign, and Jeff Warra Sr., Automotive Technology Specialist at Spirent Communications, will discuss where is this industry headed, which players are taking us there and what’s the vision for this near-future mode of transportation.

Here are a few of the prototypes that will be showcased at CES this year:

Visit The Hangar to read more about the Cartivator Skydrive’s technical specifications.

The Cartivator SkyDrive is being developed in Toyota, Japan, with a business base in Tokyo. The group is volunteer-oriented, utilizing donated equipment to pull together their flying car concept design, and have set their sights on using one to light the flame at the opening of the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2020. A scaled-down replica of Skydrive, “Toyota’s flying car”, is to be shown at CES.

The Cartivator group highlights that “our team consists of people with diverse professional backgrounds and is working hard every weekend towards developing the flying car.”

“We aim to build a prototype, establish theory of flight control, as well as form alliances with major corporations to make mass production of the flying car a reality.”

Next Future Transportation has not yet displayed their eVTOL prototype – CES 2019 will be the first public look.

Next Future Transportation (NFT) co-founders are husband and wife, Guy and Maki Kaplinsky. The team is currently developing a multi-modal electric zero emission and advance hybrid system eVTOL capable of piloted or autonomous flight. The passenger flying car, with two or four seats, can carry passengers directly from their starting point to their destination (door-to-door). Their vision will be on display at the show, with a media session on Sunday.

“We believe we have a winning design that will enable us to make the Model T of flying cars — a low-cost production model,” Guy Kaplinsky told AFP News in a Silicon Valley office park where a prototype model was being assembled.

Kaplinsky then explained, “we learned from Tesla that Elon Musk spent too much time on the production side. [Instead] we are spending our time on the technology side and will partner with companies on assembly.”

For more information about the company or prototype, see our previous article: Next Future Transportation Inc. Sets Sights on Affordable Door-To-Door eVTOL

Why its important: CES 2019 will provide these emerging UAM companies immense visibility and further ignite discussion regarding the urban aviation industry. CES is the trade show of the year for a look into the world’s most cutting edge and innovative technologies to come.

Rolls Royce’s New Flight Electrification Program (ACCEL)

04 January 2019 || 3 min read

Rolls Royce is taking a major step in the development for electric aircraft. Their new program, named ‘ACCEL’ (Accelerating the Electrification of Flight ), aims to break the speed record for electric flight by hitting upwards of 300mph. ACCEL is centered around a small test airplane built by Rolls Royce. The airplane is 12 feet long, made fully of carbon...

Rolls Royce’s New Flight Electrification Program (ACCEL)

04 January 2019 || 3 min read

ACCEL is centered around a small test airplane built by Rolls Royce. The airplane is 12 feet long, made fully of carbon fiber, and is fully electric. Within 24 months, the Rolls Royce team plans to build, test, and commercialize the airplane.

In addition to breaking the speed record, Rolls Royce also plans to break the record for highest power density achieved for a propulsion battery system.

Experiments like these push the R&D of electric aeronautics technology to its peak. These developments on batteries, weight, aerodynamics, composites, and more are all absolutely essential to the eventual realization of eVTOL air taxis (passenger drones). Companies like Rolls Royce with leading technology in these fields may eventually become leaders for the urban aviation industry as a whole.

Rolls Royce’s concept eVTOL. Rolls Royce mentions the main challenges it embraces with ACCEL are energy storage capacity and power train performance.

Rolls Royce’s main goal with the ACCEL project is to create technologies that will allow for all types of hybrid-electric flight in the near future. Said Project Manager Matheu Parr: “We are looking at the mid-2020s for when regional aircraft will be opened up for part-electrical power.”

The ACCEL program is Lead by 20 members of the Rolls Royce engineering and aerospace team and in collaboration with partners like electric motor and controller manufacturer YASA.

Why it’s important: With its record breaking developments in electric performance and battery energy density, the ACCEL program will hit breakthroughs in electric flight that are essential to the development of eVTOL air taxis. With eVTOL plans, Rolls Royce is positioning itself well at the forefront of the electrification of flight as well as urban aviation.

EHANG shares 2018 Recap; Overview of Passenger Flights

02 January 2019 || 3 min read

Ghuangzhou, China based EHANG released a video of some of their most notable passengers during flight demonstrations of the EHANG 184 air taxi during 2018. Notable persons include FACC executives, VC Fund Managers, the Mayor of Ghuangzhou, and others. The release of this video comes after the company announced on November that it will be developing an all-electric medium to...

EHANG shares 2018 Recap; Overview of Passenger Flights

02 January 2019 || 3 min read

The release of this video comes after the company announced on November that it will be developing an all-electric medium to long range aircraft that is capable of autonomous electric flight (the EH 580) and an all-electric cargo drone (the FlyShark 200) at the Zhuhai airshow.

Other notable achievements of one of the leading Chinese eVTOL manufacturers include the completion of demonstration flights in other test locales, not just Ghuangzhou – Amsterdam, Doha, and Mattersburg, Austria were among the other cities that hosted demonstration flights.

While the EHANG 184 Autonomous Air Vehicle (AAV) is not yet in a commercially operational state, EHANG is well versed in addressing some of the other challenges that involve low-altitude airspace and flight operations, such as navigating complex airspace in crowded, urban environments. The company has extensive experience with drone operations, and has agreements in place for drone delivery services in Ghuangzhou, China in partnership with Yonghui Group, a retailer. The company regularly performs “drone light shows” of which 78 were completed last year in 42 different cities.

Why it’s important: EHANG’s 2018 recap was not transformative, but rather contained validations of the progress of the company that many were following closely throughout 2018. Of note, however, is the very conscious effort the company is making to demonstrate that their AAV is safe, requires no special skills to operate, and is exciting to fly. The numerous public demonstration flights that are detailed in their recap video attest to the level of approval that many of the executives, press, and EHANG employees have when flying in the AAV. Keep a watch on EHANG in 2019 as they progress through the certification of the AAV with the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC).

Learn more about the EHANG 184 AAV

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UAM Aircraft Prototypes On Display at CES

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