Results for: zeva
Lilium Adds Frank Stephenson as Head of Product Design
Lilium has added the renowned Frank Stephenson to head their product design. In a news release late Monday, Lilium announced that the car designer, who has worked with Ferrari, MINI, and BMW, would be joining the Lilium Team. “My last job was as high up as you could be in the car design world. The obvious question was – what...

Lilium Adds Frank Stephenson as Head of Product Design

Lilium has added the renowned Frank Stephenson to head their product design. In a news release late Monday, Lilium announced that the car designer, who has worked with Ferrari, MINI, and BMW, would be joining the Lilium Team. “My last job was as high up as you could be in the car design world. The obvious question was – what next? But it wasn’t one I could easily answer. And then this incredible company came along and it immediately felt like exactly the right move” said Stephenson.
“Throughout my whole career I’ve worked hand in hand with engineers, creating vehicles that will be mechanically efficient and technically effective while also looking beautiful. I will now apply those same principles to this very latest innovation in aviation” he added.
Why it’s important: The draw of big name talent to the flying car industry is a signal that the world’s heavy hitting designers are interested in this emerging field. In terms of notoriety, there are few names that carry more clout than Stephenson’s. The move by Stephenson is further testament to the respect of an industry that is growing globally, and the amount of traction and validity of design the prototypes are being given.
Read the press release here.
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- Lillium Press Release
- Image: Getty
Canada Invests in Bell’s Flying Taxis
Canada is investing in flying taxis. On April 19th, the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada group (ISED) committed to a $39.2M investment over 5 years to a group of academic and industrial companies led by Bell. The investment marks one of the first commitments by a government to back the advancement of flying car technology, and represents a large...

Canada Invests in Bell’s Flying Taxis

Canada is investing in flying taxis. On April 19th, the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada group (ISED) committed to a $39.2M investment over 5 years to a group of academic and industrial companies led by Bell. The investment marks one of the first commitments by a government to back the advancement of flying car technology, and represents a large step forward in the widespread public approval of such technologies.
The team also includes powerplant producer Pratt and Whitney, among other companies – totaling 18 in all.
Why it’s important: This move is important because a government agency investing in a vertical flight and air taxi effort reflects the level of commitment toward advancing the flying car and taxi industry. Canada is leading the way in terms of investment, so look out for other countries becoming involved. The UAE has already sponsored Volocopter flight testing in Dubai earlier this year.
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The Future of Flying Car Positioning Systems
Professor Dan Bliss of the Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering School at Arizona State University is helping Airbus with their positioning system for the CityAirbus flying taxi transport. Bliss’ work is focused on utilizing “distributed coherence” in his navigation system, which allows for much greater accuracy in positioning, a critical requirement for the safe operation of flying cars and taxis....

The Future of Flying Car Positioning Systems

Professor Dan Bliss of the Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering School at Arizona State University is helping Airbus with their positioning system for the CityAirbus flying taxi transport. Bliss’ work is focused on utilizing “distributed coherence” in his navigation system, which allows for much greater accuracy in positioning, a critical requirement for the safe operation of flying cars and taxis.
Distributed coherent radar technology (or DDRS) utilizes many small receivers emitting the same waveform that focus on a particular target. The resulting narrow beam is much more accurate than conventional radar systems, although Bliss didn’t comment on a numerical accuracy of the system that he’s working on.
Why it’s important: The navigation technology for flying cars and taxis requires a resolution not seen before with current GPS technology. Professor Dan Bliss’s work with Airbus is seeking to change the state of radar, and much like Raytheon’s new radar system, the technological advancement of the positioning systems industry is surging to support the newfound requirements of flying cars and taxis.
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Meet The Vertical Flight Society – AHS Has Rebranded
The American Helicopter Society, or AHS, has rebranded to “The Vertical Flight Society” marking the shift in paradigm from solely supporting helicopters. The new name includes all vertical flight craft, including flying cars. The shift moved the society to vtol.org. Why it’s important: The American Helicopter Society has long been a mainstay of the US’ vertical flight presence, but this...

Meet The Vertical Flight Society – AHS Has Rebranded

The American Helicopter Society, or AHS, has rebranded to “The Vertical Flight Society” marking the shift in paradigm from solely supporting helicopters. The new name includes all vertical flight craft, including flying cars. The shift moved the society to vtol.org.
Why it’s important: The American Helicopter Society has long been a mainstay of the US’ vertical flight presence, but this rebranding acknowledges the ever-growing presence of flying car and taxi concepts (and working prototypes) that are permeating the once-dominated-by-helicopter vertical flight arena. Similarly, Bell Helicopters rebranded to Bell Flight a month ago.
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Volocopter Releases Concept “Vertiports”
German Volocopter released their concept flying car vertiport that will compete with Uber Elevate’s plans to advance flying car and taxi infrastructure in cities. The planned “Volo-ports” will include infrastructure for up to 1,000 passengers to either load or disembark from Volocopters, and the entire experience will be housed on rooftops in urban areas. The Volo-ports will have 3 additional...

Volocopter Releases Concept “Vertiports”

German Volocopter released their concept flying car vertiport that will compete with Uber Elevate’s plans to advance flying car and taxi infrastructure in cities. The planned “Volo-ports” will include infrastructure for up to 1,000 passengers to either load or disembark from Volocopters, and the entire experience will be housed on rooftops in urban areas.
The Volo-ports will have 3 additional decks below the surface of the landing space to house maintenance and auxiliary charging stations. Additionally, there will be battery-swap stations on the top deck that allows the Volocopters to continue operations throughout the day without stopping to recharge.
Why it’s important: While Uber has already released their concept for what a flying taxi port may look like, Volocopter’s entry to this space indicates that there is growing sentiment towards developing the infrastructure for flying cars and taxis. Future plans for infrastructure are also in work by FlyBlade – read our article on their recent fundraising to build vertiports here.
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Samson Sky Hosts Flying Car Forum at Sun n’ Fun 2018
Samson Sky hosted a flying car forum at the 2018 Sun n’ Fun airshow on Friday. The forum discussed the state of the flying car industry and allowed Sun n’ Fun visitors to chart with the Samson Sky team to learn more about the flying car industry and the progression of flying cars. The manufacturer is holding 615 reservations for...

Samson Sky Hosts Flying Car Forum at Sun n’ Fun 2018

Samson Sky hosted a flying car forum at the 2018 Sun n’ Fun airshow on Friday. The forum discussed the state of the flying car industry and allowed Sun n’ Fun visitors to chart with the Samson Sky team to learn more about the flying car industry and the progression of flying cars.
The manufacturer is holding 615 reservations for the Switchblade kit-built flying car. Reportedly, the Switchblade has the same power-to-weight ratio as the Corvette. The Switchblade reservation list includes persons from 15 different countries, and the estimated cost of a VFR Switchblade kit is $140,000.
Why it’s important: Samson Sky is entering the flying car industry with a bang at Sun n’ Fun, and most notably is making one of the first entries to the kit-built flying car industry to date – currently there are almost no other companies that are producing kits for flying cars that are available.
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Terrafugia is Expanding its Workforce
Woburn, MA based flying car manufacturer Terrafugia announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding its workforce and creating 130 new US jobs. Terrafugia has added 75 persons to its workforce during the last 12 months, and their press release states that at least another 50 will be added by the end of the year. Terrafugia is owned by Geely Holdings (see...

Terrafugia is Expanding its Workforce

Woburn, MA based flying car manufacturer Terrafugia announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding its workforce and creating 130 new US jobs. Terrafugia has added 75 persons to its workforce during the last 12 months, and their press release states that at least another 50 will be added by the end of the year.
Terrafugia is owned by Geely Holdings (see our article on this relationship here). Geely’s commitment to enabling the expansion of operations and industrial footprint of Terrafugia is boasting the flying car company’s progress towards their TF-X concept.
Why it’s important: This announcement is important because adding personnel is an indicator of progress and growth within Terrafugia. On a larger scale, the increased funding in the flying car and taxi industry is bolstering progress like never before and allowing manufacturers to release themselves from cost and development constraints.
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How Raytheon is bringing Radar to Flying Cars
Raytheon is bringing radar technology to flying cars and taxis. The aerospace companies’ recent efforts have focused on developing a low-power radar that can fill in the gaps of conventional larger scale radar systems. Their proposition is to implement many small systems en masse instead of utilizing large, scanning systems that have ranges of up to 200 miles. The radar...

How Raytheon is bringing Radar to Flying Cars

Raytheon is bringing radar technology to flying cars and taxis. The aerospace companies’ recent efforts have focused on developing a low-power radar that can fill in the gaps of conventional larger scale radar systems. Their proposition is to implement many small systems en masse instead of utilizing large, scanning systems that have ranges of up to 200 miles.
The radar units sit upright, and are about one square meter in size and as thick as a pizza box. The technology is claimed to be much more accurate and precise than what is in use today, according to Raytheon. These systems can also selectively monitor targets, whether that be many with a larger range or a selected single target at close range.
Why it’s important: Raytheon’s low-level radar efforts are critical to the success of the flying car and taxi industry, as tracking and efficient management of low-level urban airspace will be critical to the successful operation of personal aerial transportation systems in the future. Raytheon is distancing themselves from other infrastructure suppliers by creating a product that is ready to enter the market today.
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Miami is on Track to Become Flying Car Friendly
The CEO of Royal Palms Companies, Dan Kodsi, recently announced that he’s expecting flying cars to be around in 10-15 years, and that by that time the Paramount Miami Worldcenter will be ready to accommodate them. Kodsi’s ambitious plan includes creating a multi-purpose swimming pool on the Paramount’s rooftop with a movable bottom; when a VTOL comes in to land...

Miami is on Track to Become Flying Car Friendly

The CEO of Royal Palms Companies, Dan Kodsi, recently announced that he’s expecting flying cars to be around in 10-15 years, and that by that time the Paramount Miami Worldcenter will be ready to accommodate them.
Kodsi’s ambitious plan includes creating a multi-purpose swimming pool on the Paramount’s rooftop with a movable bottom; when a VTOL comes in to land a hydraulic system will raise the bottom of the swimming pool up to ground level to create a 3,000 square foot landing surface. “You want to be part of the group in the real-estate industry that’s reacting now, not ‘Oh, I wish we had thought of that trend,’ ” Kodsi stated.
Why it’s important: While companies like Blade and Airbus have collaborated on investing in infrastructure for flying cars recently, no real estate firm has been as invested up to this point in the flying car industry until now. Kodsi, leading Royal Palms Companies, is one of the first to enter the flying car real estate development space.
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Airports Are Ready for Flying Cars, With a Few Changes
Are airports ready to handle flying cars? This question was addressed by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) in response to the large-scale efforts by JetBlue, Airbus, Boeing, and others that have propelled the flying car and taxi industry to readiness before anyone expected. The ARMD has even created a new classification of vehicle specifically for flying cars and taxis...

Airports Are Ready for Flying Cars, With a Few Changes

Are airports ready to handle flying cars? This question was addressed by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) in response to the large-scale efforts by JetBlue, Airbus, Boeing, and others that have propelled the flying car and taxi industry to readiness before anyone expected. The ARMD has even created a new classification of vehicle specifically for flying cars and taxis – a UAM.
So what’s that? A “UAM is a safe and efficient system for air passenger and cargo transportation within an urban area, inclusive of small package delivery and other urban Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) services, which supports a mix of onboard/ground-piloted and increasingly autonomous operations”, according the research centers’ website.
The ARMD study is reflective of the level of interest in integrating flying cars with current aviation infrastructure to make the transition as seamless and efficient as possible. Here are the (condensed) questions to address in order to have effective UAM operation at airports:
- Landing Pads – Can existing Part 145 Repair Stations accommodate flying taxis? Most likely, although this area could be optimized by another FAA rewrite with perspective on UAMs.
- Airspace Management – Can airports handle the volume of planned UAM traffic into and out of airports? Companies like Airmap are already working on this.
- Policy/Regulations – Is there regulation and policy in place to support all of these developments? Recent Part 23 Certification overhauls by the FAA may help start the discussion.
Why it’s important: Because of the large scale investments in UAM integration at airports, you’ll most likely be flying either to or from an airport from an urban helipad in a flying taxi before you’ll be hopping from point to point within a city. The planned network of “vertiports” which are currently being optimized to facilitate short hops will require more integration than that of a conventional airport, and accordingly require more effort to satisfactorily integrate.
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Electric Aircraft Will Soon Become an Industry Standard
Electric aircraft will become a standard earlier than expected, said Siemens vice president of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion Terry Hamlin at the Siemens Innovation Day, held in Chicago, Il. Siemens is working alongside Rolls-Royce and Airbus on a regional airplane, dubbed the “eFan”. Hamlin stated that “Siemens believes the aviation industry is on the verge of a major shift in...

Electric Aircraft Will Soon Become an Industry Standard

Electric aircraft will become a standard earlier than expected, said Siemens vice president of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion Terry Hamlin at the Siemens Innovation Day, held in Chicago, Il. Siemens is working alongside Rolls-Royce and Airbus on a regional airplane, dubbed the “eFan”.
Hamlin stated that “Siemens believes the aviation industry is on the verge of a major shift in propulsion”, further supporting the sentiment that the progress in electric propulsion is here to stay, and eventually dominate, the aerospace industry.
Why it’s important: A critical mass of OEM’s and smaller aerospace companies alike have adopted a full-fledged effort to advance the progress of electric propulsion by funding large quantities of research and development. This behind-the-scenes funding and effort is finally coming to fruition under the public eye, and will eventually be applied to commercial airliners, helicopters, and flying cars and taxis.
*A note – TransportUp recently wrote about Siemen’s advances in electric propulsion technology. Read about them here.
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Volocopter is the New Alternative to Flying Cars
Volocopter may be the new alternative to the flying car – and it has flight tests under its belt to prove it. The 16-rotor manned eVTOL aircraft (dubbed the VC200) is built by German manufacturer Volocopter and tested in Karlsruhe. The VC200 is estimated to fly at an altitude of around 2km with payloads of up to 450kg. The Volocopter VC200...

Volocopter is the New Alternative to Flying Cars

Volocopter may be the new alternative to the flying car – and it has flight tests under its belt to prove it. The 16-rotor manned eVTOL aircraft (dubbed the VC200) is built by German manufacturer Volocopter and tested in Karlsruhe. The VC200 is estimated to fly at an altitude of around 2km with payloads of up to 450kg.
The Volocopter VC200 was so unlike anything German aviation authorities had seen before that the aircraft was registered under a new category in order to comply with flight regulations.
Why it’s important: Volocopter was previously featured on transportup.com when the company was seeking additional funding after their 2012 introduction of the VC200. Six years later, their concept is finally coming to fruition, and represents a functional flying taxi eVTOL aircraft that is ready to use once certification and public sentiment catch up to the rapid technological development of the flying taxi industry in recent years.
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Flying Taxi Technology has arrived, says Smart City Panel
Experts from across the industry of aviation, aerospace, and drones joined at the Smart Cities Connect Conference & Expo in Kansas City on March 28 to discuss the future of the flying taxi market. The panelists included Mark Zannoni, research director for International Data Corporation, Jonathan McGory, general counsel for the Cleveland Airport System, and Bill Goodwin, VP of Policy...

Flying Taxi Technology has arrived, says Smart City Panel

Experts from across the industry of aviation, aerospace, and drones joined at the Smart Cities Connect Conference & Expo in Kansas City on March 28 to discuss the future of the flying taxi market.
The panelists included Mark Zannoni, research director for International Data Corporation, Jonathan McGory, general counsel for the Cleveland Airport System, and Bill Goodwin, VP of Policy of AirMap, a Santa-Monica based drone airspace integration software company.
Key takeaways from the panel:
Flying Taxis are happening.
Zannoni stated that the idea of flying cars “is not a new concept, and now we’ve got the technology. It’s pretty feasible”. His comment is supported by numerous examples, such as Ehang’s 184 first flight in February and the Uber Elevate Initiative.
There are complications.
Flying cars are not without their own difficulties – infrastructure, public acceptance, and policy are also issues that demand consideration. The Federal Aviation Administration, the domain which controls the National Airspace System, is working in conjunction with vertical transport manufacturers to work on integration into airspace. That’s also where companies like AirMap come in. AirMap now has a partnership with the Kansas Department of Transportation to provide air traffic management services for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS’s).
There is real business potential.
A Porsche Consulting Study estimates that by 2035, the personal urban airborne transportation industry will be valued at $32 billion. Other studies cite similar figures, and the research and analysis by Deloitte and others substantiate the claims of the Porsche study.
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Siemens Showcases New Electric Propulsion Technology
Siemens released their electric propulsion technology at the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, marking another entry to the electric propulsion field by the telecommunications company. The system’s claimed total output is 260 kilowatts, which is “five times more than comparable drive systems” according to Siemens’ website. The weight to provide that power is just under 50 kilograms....

Siemens Showcases New Electric Propulsion Technology

Siemens released their electric propulsion technology at the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, marking another entry to the electric propulsion field by the telecommunications company. The system’s claimed total output is 260 kilowatts, which is “five times more than comparable drive systems” according to Siemens’ website. The weight to provide that power is just under 50 kilograms.
Why it’s important: While Siemen’s prototype is implemented on a conventional aircraft testbed, the underlying propulsion technology could easily be applied to electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The continual advancement of the electric propulsion industry is a trend that will allow for quieter and more efficient operation of aerospace technologies.
Other companies (such as Dufour Aerospace) are exploring the same design space. Read our article on Dufour here.
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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.
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