Startup Archer Aviation has transported its Maker technology demonstrator to a flight test center in California in preparation for a first hover flight of the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle before year’s end.
Zero-emissions propulsion startup Universal Hydrogen has signed an agreement with a clean-energy subsidiary of Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Group to secure a supply of green hydrogen through to 2035.
Airbus Helicopters has performed what it claims to be the first helicopter flight on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, albeit powering only one of the two engines on the H225 testbed.
Startup ZeroAvia has partnered with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics to develop a supplemental type certificate for its conversion of the 19-passenger Dornier 228 regional turboprop to hydrogen-electric propulsion.
The family of Energia-branded concepts—with all-electric, hybrid-electric or hydrogen-fueled propulsion for low emissions and noise—are aimed to enter into service between 2030 and 2040.
Austria’s CycloTech is in discussions on the first application of its cyclorotor electric propulsion system after completing initial hover flight tests of a subscale demonstrator.
In 2022, the U.S. Air Force plans to have government pilots fly prototype eVTOL aircraft on military bases as part of the Agility Prime program, to evaluate potential use cases as the service moves toward fielding an initial tranche of vehicles in fiscal 2023.
Washington State University is helping startup Zeva Aero with development of a single-person electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle under a grant from the state’s Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation.
Swiss startup Dufour Aerospace has launched a tiltwing unmanned cargo aircraft as a step toward development of its planned Aero3 passenger-carrying electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft
A European project to demonstrate a modular hybrid-electric propulsion architecture for future small short/medium-range regional aircraft has been completed with flight tests of a second power train demonstrator.
Canada’s Harbour Air Seaplanes has received C$1.6 million ($1.3 million) from the British Columbia government to support plans to electrify its fleet of aircraft.
Barely a month after completing a $100 million series A fundraising round, Chinese startup Autoflight has flown a prototype of its V1500M three/four-passenger electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi.
There are oh-so-many technological challenges remaining for the creators of the electric motors, engines and vehicles that will begin to fly under the banner of advanced air mobility.
Automated flight control system startup Skyryse has raised $200 million in funding and signed partnerships with five fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft manufacturers, including Robinson Helicopter.
In July 2019, research and development center Tecnalia in Spain’s Basque region conducted tethered indoor test flights of the prototype of an unusual “drone of drones” design for an autonomous air taxi. Now Spanish unmanned aircraft services provider Umiles has acquired the design from Tecnalia with the goal of producing the first 100% domestically developed electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicle.
Startup ZeroAvia has partnered with Mitsubishi’s CRJ support division, MHI RJ Aviation, to develop hydrogen-electric propulsion for regional jets, aiming for market availability in 2028.
Airflow has signed a memorandum of understanding with Honeywell to explore use of the avionics manufacturer’s IntuVue RDR-84K compact multimode radar for detect-and-avoid on its planned electric short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Citing increased confidence following static tests of its ultraquiet electric propulsors, startup Whisper Aero has accelerated plans to use the technology in a quiet, efficient electric general aviation aircraft.
The European Space Agency and UK air navigation service provider NATS are exploring whether 5G cellular communications technology could help to provide a resilient positioning capability for uncrewed air systems.
Backed by Chinese electric car maker XPeng, startup HT Aero has reached agreement to raise more than $500 million to develop an integrated flying and driving vehicle.
A central tenet of Uber’s Elevate vision for urban aerial ride sharing was that this is commercial air transport—aircraft owned by airlines and flown by professional pilots plying between vertiports.
Volocopter and logistics company DB Schenker conducted the first public demonstration of the VoloDrone heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg on Oct. 12, and followed up by announcing plans for a mobile takeoff and landing platform for the cargo aircraft.
Universal Hydrogen has raised an additional $62 million in funding to take the startup through initial flight testing of its hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion conversion for regional turboprops.
