Results for: skai
Virtual Reality Flying Taxi Testing? Udacity Says Yes
Udacity is planning to offer students a virtual-reality flying car experience geared toward “systems thinking, fleet management, and smart city planning”. The programming will include “Udacity Universe” which allows students to control their flying cars and taxis in a virtual environment. This virtual environment even simulates people and objects for added realism. Why it’s important: Udacity has been a leader of free...

Virtual Reality Flying Taxi Testing? Udacity Says Yes

Udacity is planning to offer students a virtual-reality flying car experience geared toward “systems thinking, fleet management, and smart city planning”. The programming will include “Udacity Universe” which allows students to control their flying cars and taxis in a virtual environment. This virtual environment even simulates people and objects for added realism.
Why it’s important: Udacity has been a leader of free online courses for some time, but including VR content in the flying car and taxi industry now allows students to first-hand experience some of the operational challenges of implementing eVTOL systems. Additionally, the benefits of “bigthink” (Udacity encouraging systems thinking, city planning, and fleet management) will encourage discussions of the total eVTOL industry’s integration to our current infrastructure.
Source
The Complete Market Overview of the eVTOL Industry
Welcome the The Hangar - the location for all the information that you need to understand the urban aviation industry. The TransportUP team has stratified the industry into two groups - a watchlist and a comprehensive list - to allow you to learn about the manufacturers you're most interested in.TransportUP's Watchlist0of the world's leading eVTOL, flying car, and flying taxi...
The Complete Market Overview of the eVTOL Industry
Welcome the The Hangar - the location for all the information that you need to understand the urban aviation industry. The TransportUP team has stratified the industry into two groups - a watchlist and a comprehensive list - to allow you to learn about the manufacturers you're most interested in.
TransportUP's Watchlist
of the world's leading eVTOL, flying car, and flying taxi manufacturers:
TransportUP's Comprehensive Market Survey
flying cars, flying taxis, eVTOLs, and hover bikes:
Wingless eVTOLs
Hover Bikes and Single-Person Aircraft
Flying Taxi “Vertiports” Will Be Constructed by Blade
Helicopter charter company Blade has raised $38 million to build flying taxi infrastructure from Airbus and Real Estate Investment firm Colony NorthStar. The Series B fundraising also included Lerer Hippeau Ventures and LionTree Ventures. The funds raised in the Series B round will be used to construct “vertiports” which are similar to helipads, but designed for flying taxis. Blade and Airbus are...

Flying Taxi “Vertiports” Will Be Constructed by Blade

Helicopter charter company Blade has raised $38 million to build flying taxi infrastructure from Airbus and Real Estate Investment firm Colony NorthStar. The Series B fundraising also included Lerer Hippeau Ventures and LionTree Ventures.
The funds raised in the Series B round will be used to construct “vertiports” which are similar to helipads, but designed for flying taxis.
Blade and Airbus are partnering on the “Airbus Ride” program in Dallas. Airbus Ride transports users to and from AT&T Stadium on conventional helicopters. The two companies also plan to launch intra-city helicopter flights outside of the U.S., which would mark the first international operation by Blade.
Why it’s important: This fundraising round solidifies Blade as a major contender for a large market share of the flying taxi industry. Blade already has a large amount of experience in the customer facing operation of an aviation charter company. Leveraging this experience will allow Blade to swap helicopters for flying taxis with relative ease.
Blade was previously featured on TUp.com when Airbus was considering investing.
Related Links:
Geely’s Involvement in the Flying Car Industry
Hangzhou, China – based Geely Automotive may seem to be just another well-performing car manufacturer. In reality, their stake and exposure to the flying car market is much stronger and more developed than many automakers. Having posted growth in 2017 of 108%, Geely is expanding extremely rapidly, and a number of acquisitions have accompanied this expansion. First, it was the...

Geely’s Involvement in the Flying Car Industry

Hangzhou, China – based Geely Automotive may seem to be just another well-performing car manufacturer. In reality, their stake and exposure to the flying car market is much stronger and more developed than many automakers.
Having posted growth in 2017 of 108%, Geely is expanding extremely rapidly, and a number of acquisitions have accompanied this expansion. First, it was the so-called “Daimler deal” that made Chairman of Geely Li Shufu the single largest shareholder of Mercedes-Benz. His share is estimated at $9 billion. The deal was large enough to cause internal investigations and gain the German Government’s curiosity. Li already owns Volvo and part of AB Volo, their commercial vehicles company.
But Geely also sought to expand toward the flying car market. In mid-November 2017, Geely purchased American flying car upstart Terrafugia, and promptly promised a flying car by 2019. Terrafugia is currently marketing their Transition, which is an entry-level flying car, but plans to leverage their experience and develop a new model, dubbed the TF-X, within the next coming years. The Terrafugia is planned to enter market in 2019, and the TF-X in 2023.
Why it’s important: While the story of Geely’s growth and subsequent acquisitions of new companies is nothing new, what’s notable is their inclusion of a flying car company (Terrafugia) in the acquisition list. This transaction underscores the importance that many automakers are placing on becoming magnates in the flying car market, and demonstrates that real commitments are being made to gain a piece of the industry.
Source
- https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/39583832/high-speed-chinas-geely-2017-net-profit-soars-amid-global-push/
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-daimler-geely-shell-insight/how-geelys-li-shufu-spent-months-stealthily-building-a-9-billion-stake-in-daimler-idUSKCN1GD5ST
- http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2120084/geely-buys-us-start-terrafugia-and-promises-flying-car-2019
- Image Credit: Terrafugia
AeroMobil Unveils 5.0 VTOL Concept Flying Car
Slovakian AeroMobil unveiled plans for their flying car (dubbed the 5.0 VTOL) Wednesday, which intends to take off vertically using tilt-rotors and then transition to forward moving flight. The 5.0 VTOL can also drive on roads, thanks to its conventional automotive chassis arrangement. Here’s an artist’s rendering of the 5.0: The 5.0 is the successor to the 3.0 STOL and...

AeroMobil Unveils 5.0 VTOL Concept Flying Car

Slovakian AeroMobil unveiled plans for their flying car (dubbed the 5.0 VTOL) Wednesday, which intends to take off vertically using tilt-rotors and then transition to forward moving flight. The 5.0 VTOL can also drive on roads, thanks to its conventional automotive chassis arrangement. Here’s an artist’s rendering of the 5.0:
The 5.0 is the successor to the 3.0 STOL and the 4.0 STOL made by AeroMobil, which is still receiving orders for the 4.0 STOL model at $1.3 million apiece. The estimated timeframe for completion of design and production of the 5.0 VTOL is in the range of “7 to 10 years” claims AeroMobil.
Why it’s important: AeroMobil is taking a different approach to the flying car. While most are promoting eVTOL’s that are optimized for the air, AeroMobil’s planned 5.0 VTOL is optimized for both on-road and in-sky operation.
Related Links:
Japanese Government Launches Flying Car Study
The Japanese Economic, Trade and Industry Ministry began studies on Monday to examine putting flying cars to practical use. An advisory panel will conduct discussions on integrating flying cars to the current transportation network and develop a roadmap for their application by 2020. Additionally, the ministry intends to facilitate public-private cooperation to overcome any of the challenges that integration of...

Japanese Government Launches Flying Car Study

The Japanese Economic, Trade and Industry Ministry began studies on Monday to examine putting flying cars to practical use.
An advisory panel will conduct discussions on integrating flying cars to the current transportation network and develop a roadmap for their application by 2020. Additionally, the ministry intends to facilitate public-private cooperation to overcome any of the challenges that integration of flying cars may bring.
Why it’s important: Singapore and the United Arab Emirates already provide demonstration sites for flying cars, and growing sentiment toward becoming “flying-car friendly” represents a lucrative economic and infrastructure development stance for the host country.
Related Links:
Bell Targets 2025 Entry to Market of their Flying Taxi
Bell Helicopters has stated that their new concept eVTOL flying taxi should enter the personal urban transportation market by 2025. While Bell showcased an image of its four-place passenger pod, no hints of a planned propulsion system have been released to date. Bell’s entry to the flying car market marks yet another instance of an aerospace company entering the lucrative...

Bell Targets 2025 Entry to Market of their Flying Taxi

Bell Helicopters has stated that their new concept eVTOL flying taxi should enter the personal urban transportation market by 2025. While Bell showcased an image of its four-place passenger pod, no hints of a planned propulsion system have been released to date.
Bell’s entry to the flying car market marks yet another instance of an aerospace company entering the lucrative vertical transport field; however, Bell’s extensive previous experience in designing and manufacturing helicopters will most likely aid in their transition to adding eVTOL’s to their product line.
Related Links:
Dufour Aerospace Unveils aEro2; Continues Advancement of Electric Propulsion Systems
The Swiss-based team that brought the aEro1 electric aerobatic aircraft demonstrator to fruition has recently unveiled its plans for the aEro2. The aEro2 is claimed to be a two-seat tilt wing configuration with range of up to 120km (75 miles) on purely electric power. With a backup Auxiliary Power Unit, the aEro2 may fly as far as 800 km (500...

Dufour Aerospace Unveils aEro2; Continues Advancement of Electric Propulsion Systems

The Swiss-based team that brought the aEro1 electric aerobatic aircraft demonstrator to fruition has recently unveiled its plans for the aEro2. The aEro2 is claimed to be a two-seat tilt wing configuration with range of up to 120km (75 miles) on purely electric power. With a backup Auxiliary Power Unit, the aEro2 may fly as far as 800 km (500 miles). Cruise speed estimates are on the order of 200 mph. The aEro2 also marks Dufour’s entry into the eVTOL industry – previously their aEro1 aircraft was a demonstrator for their electric propulsion systems.
Why it’s important: Dufour Aerospace’s innovation for electrically-powered aircraft is important for the eVTOL industry because advancements in electrical propulsion systems, regardless of their originally intended application (in this case from the aEro1 to an eVTOL, the aEro2), will undoubtedly influence and improve the current systems in place among all eVTOL’s in development.
Source
Uber and Embraer Partner to Bring Flying Taxis to Market by 2023
Uber and Embraer announced a partnership in May to bring flying taxis to market by 2024, and recently at South by Southwest in Austin, TX they jointly issued a statement that their estimate has been advanced to 2023. Uber confirmed that the planned autonomous flying taxi would travel at 150 miles per hour, six times faster than the 25 mph...

Uber and Embraer Partner to Bring Flying Taxis to Market by 2023

Uber and Embraer announced a partnership in May to bring flying taxis to market by 2024, and recently at South by Southwest in Austin, TX they jointly issued a statement that their estimate has been advanced to 2023.
Uber confirmed that the planned autonomous flying taxi would travel at 150 miles per hour, six times faster than the 25 mph average of traditional Ubers in rush hour traffic. This speed difference corresponds to a 20-times cost difference, according to Uber.
Anticipating regulation complications due to the completely original nature of the proposed flying taxi, Uber and Embraer agreed that commercially – rated helicopter pilots will staff the taxis for the first “few million flight miles” until the autonomous operation of the transport can be confirmed satisfactorily safe by the FAA.
Finally, Uber estimates that the taxi has the potential to reduce rush hour traffic commute times from 2 hours in some cases to just 9 minutes.
Source
Airis Aerospace Launches Concept Flying Taxi
Bermuda-based Airis Aerospace announced its concept all-electric eVTOL that intends on seating five passengers recently. The concept eVTOL has performance goals of transporting five people up to 200 miles at speeds of up to 175 miles per hour by using “dual coaxial lift fans and eight articulating thrusters for winged flight”. Airis also stated that their concept will include ballistic...

Airis Aerospace Launches Concept Flying Taxi

Bermuda-based Airis Aerospace announced its concept all-electric eVTOL that intends on seating five passengers recently. The concept eVTOL has performance goals of transporting five people up to 200 miles at speeds of up to 175 miles per hour by using “dual coaxial lift fans and eight articulating thrusters for winged flight”. Airis also stated that their concept will include ballistic parachute deployment systems, similar to those in place on the Cirrus SR-20 and SR-22 aircraft, for added safety and passenger confidence in their system.
Source
Watch: Kittyhawk Announces Sister Brand Cora
Larry Page backed Kittyhawk Aero recently announced a sister brand, Cora, that intends on producing an “everyday air taxi”. Cora is currently working with the New Zealand government on manufacturing the vehicle and flight tests have already taken place. The timeline for entry to service is “somewhere around five years” said Kitty Hawk CEO Sebastian Thrun – but that could...

Watch: Kittyhawk Announces Sister Brand Cora

Larry Page backed Kittyhawk Aero recently announced a sister brand, Cora, that intends on producing an “everyday air taxi”. Cora is currently working with the New Zealand government on manufacturing the vehicle and flight tests have already taken place. The timeline for entry to service is “somewhere around five years” said Kitty Hawk CEO Sebastian Thrun – but that could time frame could be shortened to three years pending the progression of the certification process with the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority. The fully autonomous Cora utilizes a combination of vertical and horizontally – oriented propulsors to allow Cora to liftoff vertically and then slowly transition to flight speeds using only its pusher propellor.
Watch Cora’s introduction here:
Source
Embry-Riddle Supports Record-Breaking UAV Package Delivery
A team of faculty, students, and staff from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, along with FAA regulators and Volans-i UAS systems engineers helped support the longest range UAV package delivery in the United States to date in Austin, TX. Team Roadrunner, as they were called, “consisted of the FAA-designated Nevada UAS Test Site (Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems), Volans-i UAS, Latitude UAS,...

Embry-Riddle Supports Record-Breaking UAV Package Delivery

A team of faculty, students, and staff from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, along with FAA regulators and Volans-i UAS systems engineers helped support the longest range UAV package delivery in the United States to date in Austin, TX. Team Roadrunner, as they were called, “consisted of the FAA-designated Nevada UAS Test Site (Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems), Volans-i UAS, Latitude UAS, AUV Flight Services and an Embry-Riddle Worldwide contingency”.
The record-breaking UAV flew almost 98 miles in 54 minutes using cellular connectivity and radio communications from observers while navigating the National Airspace System on a pre-planned route.
Why it’s important: This test solidifies the long-range capabilities of UAS’s. Although long range is not always required, the test also successfully incorporates a UAS into the National Airspace System, which is a sticking point of contingency for personal urban eVTOL transportation’s success.
Related Links:
Audi joins Porsche in Pool of Automakers Involved in eVTOL Transport
Audi recently joined the ranks of automakers in the eVTOL transportation industry with its announcement at the 88th Geneva Motor Show that it would be collaborating with Airbus and Italdesign on the Pop.Up eVTOL transport. The Pop.Up was shown at the previous year’s Motor Show, but without Audi branding on certain car components. Now, Audi has included their expertise on...

Audi joins Porsche in Pool of Automakers Involved in eVTOL Transport

Audi recently joined the ranks of automakers in the eVTOL transportation industry with its announcement at the 88th Geneva Motor Show that it would be collaborating with Airbus and Italdesign on the Pop.Up eVTOL transport.
The Pop.Up was shown at the previous year’s Motor Show, but without Audi branding on certain car components. Now, Audi has included their expertise on the modular flying/driving system.
Why it’s important: While traditional large-scale aerospace companies and small-scale aerospace startups alike are entering the eVTOL industry, growing sentiment from automakers to become part of an emerging transportation movement is proving lucrative enough to garner serious investment, and, in this case, commitment from automakers to include their own components on future products.
Source
Hyperloop and Flying Cars Heighten Competition for “Next Big Thing” in Transportation
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Elon Musk last week made a buzz on Twitter after Khosrowshahi posed the question “why do you need to dig tunnels when you can fly”? Musk quipped back with his response, citing the potential noise and downwash generated from eVTOL’s propellors as reason enough to pursue the Hyperloop project in lieu of vertical transport. While...

Hyperloop and Flying Cars Heighten Competition for “Next Big Thing” in Transportation

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Elon Musk last week made a buzz on Twitter after Khosrowshahi posed the question “why do you need to dig tunnels when you can fly”? Musk quipped back with his response, citing the potential noise and downwash generated from eVTOL’s propellors as reason enough to pursue the Hyperloop project in lieu of vertical transport.
While both the on-ground Hyperloop and in-air eVTOL camps are becoming stronger in technological foundation, there are critical infrastructure developments facing each of these transportation solutions. For Hyperloop, permits for expansions and additions to existing rail structures and stations may hinder development from occurring quicker, while eVTOL’s must face the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations and urban infrastructure requirements for landing ports as well.
View the exchange here:
If you love drones above your house, you’ll really love vast numbers of “cars” flying over your head that are 1000 times bigger and noisier and blow away anything that isn’t nailed down when they land
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2018
Challenge accepted. Improved battery tech (thx 2 @elonmusk) and multiple smaller rotors will be much more efficient and avoid noise + environmental pollution. https://t.co/563U0RqDYF
— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) February 22, 2018
Source
Pal-V Unveils Flying Car at Geneva Auto Show
The Dutch Company Pal-V launched its flying car at the 88th Annual Geneva International Motor Show on press day, marking yet another entry into the personal vertical transportation field. The Pal-V is configured as a three-wheeled, two-seat gyroplane and car combination that Pal-V CEO Robert Dingemanse thinks will change the way people think about personal transportation. Estimates state that the Pal-V...

Pal-V Unveils Flying Car at Geneva Auto Show

The Dutch Company Pal-V launched its flying car at the 88th Annual Geneva International Motor Show on press day, marking yet another entry into the personal vertical transportation field. The Pal-V is configured as a three-wheeled, two-seat gyroplane and car combination that Pal-V CEO Robert Dingemanse thinks will change the way people think about personal transportation. Estimates state that the Pal-V will operate at speeds up to 110mph with a range of just more than 300 miles. The Pal-V is slated to operate on conventional gasoline.
Source
Share this: