Kitty Hawk has completed its first operational exercise with the U.S. Air Force’s AFWerx innovation unit assessing the ability of the company’s Heaviside electric vertical-takeoff aircraft to perform medical evacuation, personnel recovery and logistics.
Hard on the heels of its agreement with UK and U.S. helicopter operator Halo Aviation, Embraer spinoff Eve Urban Air Mobility has partnered with Brazil’s Helisul Aviation to develop an ecosystem for aerial ridesharing.
How the early leaders in urban air mobility plan to roll out their air taxi services is becoming more clear: Details about their plans are emerging as parts of deals to go public, with valuations in the billions of dollars.
Obtaining certification from civil aviation authorities is the milestone that eVTOL vehicle manufacturers most seek—it allows them to be first-to-market in what is viewed as a keenly competitive industry.
Joby Aviation has laid out its road map to achieve type certification of its electric air taxi and obtain its air operator certificate in order to begin commercial aerial ridesharing services in U.S. cities in 2024.
As Aviation Week launches a new publication dedicated to the AAM ecosystem, technology editor Graham Warwick and senior editor Guy Norris are joined by SMG Consulting’s Sergio Cecutta to discuss the thinking behind the latest update of his AAM Reality Index.
Explaining artificial intelligence (AI) in a way that meets safety standards and rulemaking is one of the key challenges to fully automating advanced air mobility vehicles.
Converting the rooftops of underused parking garages into vertiports is seen as an early opportunity to expand the ground infrastructure for urban air mobility (UAM) beyond the limited number of heliports now operating.
Responding to Wisk Aero’s lawsuit alleging the theft of trade secrets, Archer Aviation has described the case as “entirely baseless” and accused its urban air mobility (UAM) rival of “reckless innuendo and rank speculation” in a bid to “weaponize the legal system” to harm the startup.
Barely a month after being acquired by private-aviation powerhouse Directional Aviation, helicopter operator Halo Aviation has announced a partnership with Embraer spinoff Eve Urban Air Mobility to develop an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air-taxi operation in the UK and U.S.
Volocopter and Near Earth Autonomy are to test autonomous flight technology on the VoloDrone unmanned cargo aircraft. The team plans a beyond-visual-line-of-sight capability demonstration in Munich in 2022.
Europe’s aviation regulator believes commercial use of electric air taxis could begin by 2024-25, but that it will take at least five more years to enable autonomous passenger transport, the holy grail for ubiquitous and affordable urban air mobility.
