Spun out by the Williams Formula 1 racing team at the end of 2019, Williams Advanced Engineering has been expanding from its motorsports roots and applying its high-performance battery and electrification expertise to new sectors, including aviation.
Germany’s Wingcopter has signed a contract exceeding $16 million to supply a large fleet of delivery drones to Spright, a subsidiary formed by U.S. air medical service provider Air Methods in July 2020 to service the health care market.
A NASA-funded team is working to connect airborne and cloud-based flight management systems to enable better real-time trajectory optimization and airspace management for advanced air mobility and commercial aviation.
The additional Boeing funding will advance development of Wisk’s sixth-generation eVTOL, which is targeted to be the first autonomous all-electric passenger aircraft certified in the U.S.
Flight testing of advanced air mobility prototypes under the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program is gathering pace, with the first government remotely piloted flights of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicle.
First studied by Bell in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the company has revived the stop/fold tiltrotor concept with new technology to meet the AFWerx call for HSVTOL vehicles for special operation missions.
California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi developer Overair has begun full power ground tests of the 20-ft.-dia. rotor system that will power a flying demonstrator of the company’s Butterfly quad-tiltrotor starting in 2023.
Rolls-Royce’s £6 million ($8.17 million) Spirit of Innovation electric aircraft has secured the world electric aircraft speed record following verification by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
Two early-stage startups have joined forces to lay the foundations for an on-demand regional air service in Western Australia using small electric aircraft.
Swiss startup Daedalean has closed a $58 million financing round that will provide the funds needed to bring its machine-leaning-based visual guidance, navigation and control suite to market over the next four years.
The Hamburg Port Authority has formed a technology partnership with drone control center developer HHLA Sky to accelerate use of drones within the German port for logistics, surveillance, inspection and emergency coordination.
A Japanese team has demonstrated an integrated sea-air drone combining an unmanned aircraft and underwater robot and designed to reduce the cost and risk of marine inspections and repairs.
UK startup Electric Aviation Group is continuing its strategy of building out the enabling technologies for its planned zero-emissions 90-seat hydrogen hybrid-electric regional airliner, the H2ERA.
AutoFlight Europe has set up shop in Augsburg, Germany, and is being led by Mark Henning, who joined the Chinese group from Airbus Helicopters earlier this month.
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