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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

• http://www.royalgazette.com/business/article/20180314/air-taxi-concept-is-taking-off&template=mobileart
• https://www.airisaero.com/airis1

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:

• https://news.erau.edu/news-briefs/eagles-support-longest-uav-urban-package-delivery-in-the-united-states/

2 March 2018 || 1 min read

Airbus recently disclosed that it may invest up to $15 million dollars in the helicopter and aircraft chartering service Blade for a reported 10 percent share of equity, according to persons familiar with the transaction. The investment may be an effort to acquire expertise into the helicopter-hailing app that is integral to Blade’s customer experience. Airbus eventually intends on utilizing a similar booking process for their eVTOL’s, the Vahana and CityAirbus.

This investment represents an ongoing trend to bridge the gap between current VTOL solutions – helicopters – and the future of eVTOL implementation on a wide scale. Currently, companies like Blade maintain the largest collection of infrastructure to support VTOL operations in urban areas. Urban infrastructure is identified as one of the three main challenges supporting Uber’s Elevate initiative, and acquisitions by other large aerospace corporations such as Boeing Co.’s purchase of Aurora Flight Sciences emphasize the competitive trend of being first-to-market with a functional implementation of an eVTOL system in an urban environment.

Related Links:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/technology/flying-taxis.html
• http://lescarats.com/2017/05/19/fly-blade/

1 March 2018 || 1 min read

Uber announced that its second-annual Elevate Project summit will occur on May 8 and 9 at LA’s Skirball Center. The invite-only event is intended to address three main challenges that UberAir has identified as critical to success of their air-sharing proposal: “Vehicles, Batteries, and Technologies”, “Airspace and Enabling Operations”, and “Moving Cities”. The conference currently includes an all-Uber speaker cast – CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and CPO Jeff Holden – along with recently poached engineering talent from NASA’s Ames Research Center, Dr. Tom Prevot, who is serving as Director of Engineering for Airspace Systems.

The details of the conference are outlined on Uber’s Elevate Summit Page.

Related Links:

• http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-flying-car-elevate-summit-los-angeles-may-2018-2?r=UK&IR=T