Urban Air Mobility (UAM) means a safe and efficient system for vehicles, piloted or not, to move passengers and cargo within a city.
Some of the barriers to urban air mobility operations include safety certification of autonomous vehicle systems, community noise impacts from vehicle operations, cyber security protections, safe airspace integration with traditional airline operations, and many others.
One of the most important certification concerns is to ensure the vehicles are safe to fly and to land, especially in emergency situations in crowded urban areas.
An example of an operational challenge is ensuring that vehicles, piloted or not, are integrated into an air traffic system in which parts of that system must be fully automated to handle the high frequency and density of projected operations.
Community acceptance of UAM operations is another challenge. While demonstrating safe and reliable operations is critically important, it is equally important that vehicle operations don’t create unacceptable community noise impacts, and that they fit into the urban land and skyscape.
April 2021 - Volocopter - The Roadmap to scalable UAM
CTOL: Conventional Takeoff and Landing
Thin Haul: 9-10 pax aircraft
VTOL: vertical takeoff and landing
vertiport: VTOL hubs with multiple takeoff and landing pads, as well as charging infrastructure
vertistop: a single VTOL pad with minimal infrastructure
Battery terminology
- specific energy: the amount of energy per unit weight provided by the battery, which ultimately determines the gross weight of the vehicle
- charge rate: how quickly the battery can be brought back to a nearly full charge, which determines operational idle time
- cycle life: the number of charge/discharge cycles the cell can sustain before its capacity is less than 80% of the original, which determines how often the battery must be replaced
- cost per kilowatt-hour: which determines the overall battery cost
March 7, 2021 - U.S. Congress Introduces Legislation to Support Aerial Mobility Infrastructure
March 4, 2021 - Volocopter Raises €200 Million in Series D Funding Round
March 1, 2021 - Bye’s eFlyer 2 is a Specimen for Aerial Mobility Supply Chain and Production
Feb 28, 2021 - Falck Partners with Kitty Hawk for Development of eVTOLs in EMS
Feb 26, 2021 - EHang 216 AAV Completes First Trial Flights in Beijing and over South China Sea
Feb 26, 2021 - Joby Aviation Releases First Footage of Air Taxi Prototype in Flight
Feb 25, 2021 - Jaunt Air Mobility Awarded Air Force Contract for eVTOL Noise Reduction Research
Feb 23, 2021 - How Aerial Mobility will Merge with Private Aviation Management Infrastructure
Jan 31, 2021 - Hyundai and Urban Air Port to Build eVTOL Hub in UK
Jan 31, 2021 - Jaunt Air Mobility and Varon Vehicles Partner for Aerial Mobility in Latin America
Jan 31, 2021 - Airbus Debuts H130 Flightlab for Helicopter and UAM Tech Testing
Jan 29, 2021 - Airflow to Develop Full-Scale Technology Demonstrator
Jan 27, 2021 - Horizon Aircraft Exits Stealth Mode with its Sleek Cavorite X5 eVTOL
Jan 24, 2021 - The Y6SPlus: An eVTOL that can travel from lower Manhattan to JFK in 8 minutes
Jan 23, 2021 - EHang Joins European Union’s AMU-LED Project to Demonstrate Urban Air Mobility
Jan 21, 2021 - CEZERI Flying Car Prototype Could Change Urban Transport
Jan 20, 2021 - Pipistrel Launches Electric Aircraft Maintenance School
Jan 18, 2021 - Volocopter Initiates Campaign to Bring Air Taxi Service to US cities
Jan 17, 2021 - Jaunt Air Mobility Announces Partnership with Walle
Jan 16, 2021 - GM Unveils eVTOL Concept at CES 2021
Jan 14, 2021 - Fiat Chrysler and Air Taxi Startup Archer Partner for eVTOL Production
Jan 13, 2021 - EHang to Provide UAM Services in Hengqin, China
Jan 12, 2021 - How a Solar Aircraft’s Avionics Package could be perfectly suited for Aerial Mobility
Jan 10, 2021 - Blade and Ross Aviation Announce Strategic Alliance
Jan 9, 2021 - USAF Selects Metawave as Part of Agility Prime Initiative
Jan 9, 2021 - Hatzolah Air to Receive 4 CityHawk Aircraft from Urban Aeronautics for EMS Services
Jan 7, 2021 - EASA Merges VTOL and General Aviation Certification Departments
Jan 3, 2021 - JAXA and Yamato Holdings Announce Their eVTOL Cargo Pod
Jan 3, 2021 - 2021 Expected to Bring New Wave of eVTOL Aircraft
Jan 1, 2021 - Manta Hybrid eVTOL Aircraft is Ready for Flight Testing
Dec 29, 2020 - EHang Launches Aerial Tourism Program with Greenland Hong Kong
Dec 27, 2020 - Iris Automation Closes $13 million in Series B Funding
Dec 27, 2020 - Elroy Air Receives Additional Funding From U.S Air Force
Ded 26, 2020 - Metro Hop’s eSTOL Plane: An Alternative Solution
Dec 26, 2020 - Jaunt Air Mobility and VerdeGo Aero Collaborate on Hybrid Electric Aircraft
Dec 24, 2020 - Joby, Volocopter And Lilium Are Making A Risky, Expensive Bet On Vertical Integration To Invent Urban Air Mobility
Dec 20, 2020 - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Announces Urban Air Mobility Partnership
Dec 19, 2020 - $15M UAS/UAM Testing Facility Opens in Pendleton
Dec 17, 2020 - Vertical Aerospace Appoints David Alexander as Head of Flight Physics
Dec 16, 2020 - BLADE Urban Air Mobility To be Listed on NASDAQ
Dec 15, 2020 - A Trade Study in Endurance and Performance: Airspeeder’s Battery Configuration
Dec 13, 2020 - Volocopter’s Initial Round of VoloFirst Flights in Singapore Sold Out
Dec 13, 2020 - Joby Aviation Acquires Uber Elevate, Receives Airworthiness Approval from U.S Military
Dec 11, 2020 - Lilium Partners with Lufthansa Aviation Training for Pilot Recruitment for Lilium Jet
Dec 10, 2020 - Joby Aviation and Beta Technologies Welcome Flying Car Simulator to Springfield Airport
Dec 8, 2020 - EDF Thrust Vectoring and Intelligent Flight Path Management – How Cleo Robotics’ Dronut Could Advance Aerial Mobility
Dec 5, 2020 - Tangram Flex Lands Agility Prime Contract
Dec 4, 2020 - Joby Aviation in Talks to Purchase Uber Elevate
Dec 3, 2020 - Samad Aerospace completes first CTOL flight of e-Starling prototype
Nov 30, 2020 - What China’s Aerial Mobility Policyscape Tells Us About Aerial Mobility Regulation
Nov 29, 2020 - SkyDrive to Participate in Osaka-based Public-Private Roundtable
Nov 29, 2020 - AMSL Aero Reveals Full-Scale Prototype: Vertiia
Nov 29, 2020 - Airspeeder Powers Up its eVTOL Air Racer
Nov 26, 2020 - Ampaire Flies Longest Route to Date for an Electric Aircraft
Nov 23, 2020 - How Iris Automation’s DAA Tech Could Make Aerial Mobility Safer
Nov 22, 2020 - XTI Partners with VerdeGo Aero for Its Hybrid-Electric Cargo VTOL
Nov 22, 2020 - uAvionix Announces Participation in Deployment of Vantis, North Dakota’s UAS System
Nov 22, 2020 - XTI Partners with VerdeGo Aero for Its Hybrid-Electric Cargo VTOL
Nov 18, 2020 - Dean Donovan on Deurbanization Rising: Covid-19, Remote Work And Electric Aviation Will Reshape Living Patterns
Nov 17, 2020 - NASA, Wisk Partner to Establish Autonomous Aerial Mobility Standards
Nov 16, 2020 - Bye Aerospace Equips Its e-Flyer with Safran’s ENGINeUS Electric Aviation Motor
Nov 15, 2020 - VerdeGo Aero Optimizes Hybrid Propulsion System for Commercial Aviation
Nov 15, 2020 - The CaravellAir: Caravella Aerospace's Proof-of-Concept Roadable Aircraft
Nov 13, 2020 - EHang 216 Makes its Korean Debut
Nov 11, 2020 - Kawasaki Unveils New Motorcycle-Sized Unmanned Helicopter
Nov 10, 2020 - City of Orlando Partners with Lilium for Aerial Mobility Development
Nov 8, 2020 - Pegasus Vertical Business Jet Receives “Resounding” Response from Global Market
Nov 1, 2020 - Uber Elevate Chooses GE Aviation to Develop Flight Data Monitoring Requirements
Oct 30, 2020 - Klein Vision’s AirCar Successfully Completes Flight Tests
Oct 30, 2020 - Pal-V Liberty Hits the Road in Europe
Oct 30, 2020 - Canada Launches CAAM to Accelerate Aerial Mobility Development and Implementation
Fast-forwarding to a future of urban air transport
Uber’s ‘flying cars’ could arrive in LA by 2020 — and here’s what it’ll be like to ride one
Fantastical flying machines at CES 2018 highlight the future of urban transport
Cora, Kitty Hawk’s Air Taxi Takes Off in New Zealand
Ehang’s passenger-carrying drones look insanely impressive in first test flights
CEO takes ride in passenger drone to demonstrate that it’s safe
Sarah Nilsson, J.D., Ph.D., MAS
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