With target dates for the launch of electric air taxi services drawing closer, more manufacturers are striking deals aimed at ensuring infrastructure will be in place when their aircraft are ready.
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 April, Rob Scholl was named senior vice president for eAviation at Textron, a new position within the industrial conglomerate. Previously senior vice president of sales and marketing at Textron Aviation, he talked to Aviation Week’s Graham Warwick about his new role leading the company’s exploration of the technologies reshaping aviation.
Wing is expanding its drone delivery operations from smaller towns into more complex urban areas with plans to begin on-demand store-to-door deliveries in metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth.
Embraer subsidiary Eve Air Mobility will launch a month-long simulated urban-air-mobility (UAM) trial in Brazil on Nov. 8, connecting the affluent coastal suburb of Barra de Tijuca with Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão International Airport.
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.
Italian and French airport operators have formed a company, Urban Blue, with international ambitions to design, build and manage the vertiport infrastructure for urban air mobility.
Chinese Tesla rival XPeng has unveiled a “flying car,” a two-seat, supercar-style electric vehicle that transforms into a twin-rotor helicopter, under development by its affiliate HT Aero.
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.
Korea Aerospace Industries has unveiled plans to develop commercial and military versions of an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle, in passenger and unmanned cargo variants.
A white paper outlining the benefits of advanced air mobility, created by a group of UK stakeholders, lays out an ambitious road map of actions required by 2025 if the country is to become a leader in the emerging market.
Singapore-headquartered H3 Dynamics has closed a $26 million funding round to develop hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft for longer-range parcel and cargo delivery.
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ABB’s E-mobility unit will develop, test and supply the MegaWatt fast-charging infrastructure required for the quick turnaround times needed for electric aviation.
DHL Express plans to demonstrate the use of delivery drones for port logistics in a joint initiative with Malaysian aviation services company Pen Aviation and local cargo operator Raya Airways.
