• 20 Dec 2020 05:27 PM
• 0

Volocopter Moves Forward

Bruchsal, Germany-based Volocopter GmbH has continued pushing forward with its two-seat, 18-propeller multicopter eVTOL since the “roll-out” of its first production model, the VC 2-1 VoloCity on Sept. 30. On Oct. 28, the company announced a cooperative effort with Lufthansa Industry Solutions to build Volocopter’s proprietary intelligent and integrated “Urban Air Mobility [UAM] Software Platform,” called VoloIQ (shown), which will run on Microsoft Azure. The system will provide “complete digital visibility of the complex UAM ecosystem in real-time.”

On Dec. 9, Volocopter announced that it would launch air taxi services in Singapore by 2023. This comes after close collaboration with the city since 2018. Volocopter has founded Volocopter Asia Holding and plans to hire 50 pilots, engineers, operation specialists, and business managers in the next three years, and staff up to 200 full-time employees to manage a network of Singapore routes by 2026.

Finally, Volocopter and ADAC Luftrettung announced on Dec. 15 that ADAC had reserved two VoloCity aircraft. After publishing the results of a feasibility study about piloted multicopter use in rescue services, ADAC Luftrettung has invested in a reservation for two VoloCitys to prepare for operational tests in 2023.