Founded in 2009, Joby has long been recognized by experts as the leading pioneer in the development of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology, but the company stopped sharing deta
In the year since Joby Aviation saw its valuation pass the $1B mark — known as a unicorn — the company has become more public in its quest to become first to market in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi market. The recent release of photos and video showing the Joby Generation 2.0 aircraft hovering and in wingborne flight highlights the continuing advances in the aircraft’s flight test program.
Until recently, Uber was often one of those companies that people seem to love to hate. Stemming from the well-publicized antics of its founding CEO Travis Kalanick, workplace scandals and the no-holds-barred expansion strategy of its startup years, most people were skeptical and suspicious of Uber’s intentions and motivations when it announced its interest in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
The Vancouver-based Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM) Consortium commissioned three new studies to better understand how advanced air mobility (AAM) activities will impact the Greater Vancouver economy, environment and social engagement, the so-called Triple Bottom Line.
Beginning in April, the Vertical Flight Society started providing virtual content with both industry interviews and virtual chapter meetings. Links to past and future webinars are available at www.vtol.org/webinars. Below is a roundup of a dozen of the webinars organized by the chapters and headquarters since the last issue of Vertiflite.
 Cora/5.-Cora-landing.jpg)
Autonomy, among the hottest topics in aviation today, lacks a clear and agreed-upon definition, though a consensus is emerging.
Multiple aviation “level of autonomy” scales have been put forward, such as Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS) by US government’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). But the adjective “autonomous” is binary: either an actor (person or system) performs a task autonomously or it has supervision.
On Nov. 19, Munich-based Lilium announced that it has appointed Geoffrey Richardson — previously the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the autonomous car company Cruise — as its CFO. Based in San Francisco, Richardson has more than 20 years of proven expertise in international finance, mergers and acquisition, fundraising and operations.
The Vertical Flight Society has launched its inaugural VFS Design-Build-Vertical Flight (DBVF) Student Competition. This 20 lb (9 kg) eVTOL competition seeks to encourage interest in unmanned aircraft technology, and small air vehicle design and fabrication. The Army Research Lab (ARL) is the host of the fly-off taking place April 16-17 between schools from around the world.
California-based Metro Hop, Inc., announced on Nov. 30 that its newly formed German division, Metro Hop Technik GMBH, had been awarded a grant from the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC). Metro Hop has been developing an all-electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft (shown) with its patented “Active Landing Gear” system, used to accelerate the plane to flight speed on takeoff and decelerate the plane after landing.
Tecnam has partnered with Rolls-Royce to develop a nine-passenger eCTOL aircraft called the P-Volt, the Italian aircraft company announced on Oct. 23. The two companies are already collaborating on a hybrid-electric version of its four-seat Tecnam P2010 Traveller.
