Nineteen months after they predicted UAM would be a niche market, Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick and Teal Group’s Richard Aboulafia are back to address why investors are now pouring billions of dollars into the emerging sector.
“Where’s my flying car?” may be the popular lament of disappointed futurists, but “Where’s the market?” is the more important question for startups trying to make roadable aircraft a reality. AeroMobil is targeting the exclusive clientele of supercar enthusiasts with its first product, the two-seat AeroMobil 4.0. But now the Slovakian startup is eyeing ride-hailing as a route to expanding the market.
Startup Reliable Robotics has remotely piloted a Cessna 208B Caravan from a ground station 50 mi. away, a key step toward certifying an autonomy retrofit for the aircraft that will enable unmanned regional cargo operations.
Archer has committed to launching an urban air mobility network in Miami by 2024 which will see Southern Florida join Los Angeles as a flagship market for the startup’s planned air taxi services.
Startup Jump Aero is to study the use of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle to calibrate navigation aids, as an alternative to a costly fixed-wing platform.
German urban air mobility startup Volocopter has raised €200 million ($241 million) to complete development and launch services with its Volocopter electric air taxi.
Flint Hills Solutions has partnered with UAV Navigation to integrate their joint technologies into the FH-900 Series autonomous Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial System helicopter.
The European arm of General Atomics is studying adapting the Dornier 228 twin-turboprop into an unmanned cargo aircraft. The company says an unmanned Dornier 228 could open up new prospects for growth for the platform, following its purchase of the rights to produce the aircraft from Switzerland’s RUAG International.
Bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House Transportation Committee have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the FAA’s efforts to introduce drones into the national airspace system.
Kitty Hawk has partnered with European health care company Falk to evaluate use of the Heaviside electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle in emergency response operations.
Joby Aviation is going public in a transaction that will provide the urban air mobility startup more than $1.5 billion to complete aircraft development and begin air taxi services.
European publication of certification rules for road-capable gyroplanes has cleared the way for the Netherlands’ PAL-V to complete development of its Liberty flying car.
Hard on the heels of its billion-dollar investment deal, urban air mobility startup Archer has committed to launch its first air-taxi network in Los Angeles by 2024.
Advanced air mobility startup Lilium has selected Spanish aerostructures supplier Aciturri to build the composite airframe for its electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxi.
