Vertical Flight Society Executive Director Mike Hirschberg provided an overview of eVTOL promise and progress in a briefing, "The Electric VTOL Revolution," to the VFS San Francisco Bay Area Chapter on July 2, 2018. More than 100 people attended, including dozens of NASA Rotorcraft Aeromechanics interns from around the United States.
At the Future of Transportation conference in Cologne, Germany, on a panel chaired by VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg, Derrick Xiong, co-founder and chief marketing officer of EHang, provided new insights into the company’s Autonomous Aerial Vehicle.
Canada is providing CAD$49.5M (USD$37.7M) in financial support for a major technology demonstration program (TDP) designed to advance five key technologies to support the development of urban air taxis, conventional helicopters and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The Government of Canada announced on April 16 during International Aerospace Week in Montréal that it is providing the funding to an aerospace consortium of 20 industry and academic partners led by Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd (BHTCL).
At the Future of Transportation conference in Cologne, Germany, on a panel chaired by VFS Executive Director Mike Hirschberg, Bell’s director of Innovation, Scott Drennan, announced a newly formed collaboration with Safran on the development of innovative hybrid-electric power system solutions to support Bell’s eVTOL Air Taxi concept.
Uber’s Second Annual Elevate Summit was held in Los Angeles, California, on May 8–9, the week before Forum 74, with about 1,000 attendees. Uber said that some 10,000 people live-streamed the event. (All of the press releases and links to the videos of most of the presentations and panels are available at www.evtol.news/uber.)
Embraer X, an Embraer organization dedicated to developing disruptive businesses, unveiled on May 8 its first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft concept.
Uber's Second Annual Elevate Summit was held in Los Angeles, CA, May 8-9, 2018. It brought together about 1,000 of the world's foremost on-demand aviation leaders in industry, government, and academia for two full days of programming. Uber said that some 10,000 people livestreamed the event.
NASA is broadening its support to Urban Air Mobility through several initiatives, as outlined in a May 7, 2018 NASA news story:
The goal, known as Urban Air Mobility (UAM), is a safe and efficient air transportation system where everything from small package delivery drones to passenger-carrying air taxis operate over populated areas, from small towns to the largest cities....
Uber Elevate Press Release, May 9, 2018
As part of Uber’s second annual Elevate Summit, aircraft designer and Uber Elevate partner, Pipistrel, has revealed its newest eVTOL concept and design. The new aircraft utilizes dedicated propulsion systems for both cruising and vertical lift and embraces an aircraft family approach of eVTOL able to carry from two to six passengers.
Uber Elevate Press Release, May 9, 2018
On the first day of its second annual Elevate Summit, Uber unveiled a series of new advancements and partnerships that are helping launch the world’s first urban aviation network.
