As demand for transportation continues to increase to levels of chaos and gridlock, alternatives to ground-based transportation are starting to emerge for urban and inter-urban travel and commuting. So-called ‘flying taxi’ projects are fully underway in companies including Airbus, and Boeing (Aurora) and Bell are fully engaged with multiple projects, while the two of the front-runners at present - E-Hang and Volocopter - have already presented static versions of their autonomous air transport vehicles at The Future of Transportation World Conference. In both the latter cases, these air transit ‘taxis’ are beyond the concept stage and already in the trial and test stages of development.
We will be talking with all of these companies and getting their speakers to discuss how their programs have developed during 2020. We’ll be looking at obstacles they may have encountered and where the pathway is for the deployment of (mass) low-speed (autonomous) air travel in and between cities.
Denis Benk
strategy and finance projects
ADAC Luftrettung GmbH
GERMANY
Synopsis: The presentation will discuss ways to optimize emergency medical situations (EMS) systems by transporting medical staff via multicopters instead of road-going emergency vehicles. It will focus on EMS tactics, technological requirements, regulations, flight and operations safety and staff. The preliminary results of a feasibility study on model regions will be presented. ADAC Luftrettung's project partners are Volocopter, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt and the University of Munich.
Vassilis Agouridas
head of EU public co-creation and regulatory ecosystem outreach/UAM initiative leader
Airbus/EIP-SCC
GERMANY
Synopsis: The session will sketch an exciting picture of our future urban and suburban mobility. The main goal of this session is to support cities and regulators in preparing their responses and actions regarding these emerging, prominent services. The session also aims to show how drones will contribute toward integrating local communities and urban areas, enhancing the mobility network and answering real urban needs. Last-mile transport, passenger mobility, emergency use cases and traffic management will all be discussed, as well as issues on the governance of drone operations in the urban environment.
José Rui Marcelino
CEO and design manager
Almadesign
PORTUGAL
Synopsis: The Flexcraft project combines the expertise of a consortium of companies/institutions (Almadesign, IST, SET, Embraer, Inegi) in the fields of industrial design, aeronautical/process engineering and aircraft manufacturing, to develop an on-demand urban air transportation solution. This presentation outlines the opportunities of hybrid electric propulsion and the impact on designing the passenger experience via innovative cabin layouts and modular fuselage configurations. The solution will be tested using a remotely operated scaled demonstrator, a full-size cabin mock-up and an innovative manufacturing process, bringing new opportunities for flying multimodal vehicles that promise considerable advantages in low-level urban airspaces, specifically related to noise, emissions, flexibility and operating cost.
Martin Warner
chairman
Autonomous Flight
UK
Synopsis: The presentation will discuss the opportunity provided by urban electric aircraft transportation and will cover and make the case for eVTOL aircraft solutions for major cities, including the benefits of this transformation. It will explain how this space will evolve, the economics required, and the current regulatory challenges and likely solutions ahead, including air traffic integration. It will also highlight the private and commercial use opportunities, including the industry innovation present today, and where it will likely be in the five- and ten-year horizons. The session will conclude with Autonomous Flight’s role in creating a city-based air transportation system.
David Haber
head of deep learning
Daedalean
SWITZERLAND
Synopsis: How feasible is the urban air mobility that everyone is talking about? It depends on how close we are to fully autonomous flight: not only is there a shortage of pilots for the future air taxi industry, but the human brain has not evolved for flying within heavy air traffic. So, the key enabler for the industry to come is autonomy. But it must be built to the highest standards of safety, and be more reliable than a human pilot. The talk describes the key steps and challenges on the way to achieving full autonomy.
Piia Karjalainen
senior manager
ERTICO - ITS Europe
BELGIUM
Synopsis: The session will sketch an exciting picture of our future urban and suburban mobility. The main goal of this session is to support cities and regulators in preparing their responses and actions regarding these emerging, prominent services. The session also aims to show how drones will contribute toward integrating local communities and urban areas, enhancing the mobility network and answering real urban needs. Last-mile transport, passenger mobility, emergency use cases and traffic management will all be discussed, as well as issues on the governance of drone operations in the urban environment.
Markus Farner
co-leader innovation and digitization
Federal Office for Civil Aviation FOCA
SWITZERLAND
Synopsis: We are increasingly receiving information about new projects concerning UAM that are about to break through. Today, there is still an opportunity to counteract the polarization – not only by the media – with a transparent discussion about UAM based on facts and requirements. In a globalized world, this is becoming more and more demanding, as rules are increasingly developed by international bodies, which often also have to take into account different political and economic goals. Nevertheless, it is still possible to create functioning systems through intelligent cooperation at the national level that can serve as an international role model.
Derrick Choi
aviation and transportation leader
Gensler
USA
Synopsis: Over the last five years, the collaboration between airports, CAVs and eVTOL operators has truly begun to take flight. What was once an abstract conversation about the future of mobility has quickly accelerated into a complex negotiation of interweaving, evolving business models, regulatory frameworks and regional infrastructural realities. This presentation synthesizes the current developments in getting current airport systems – both in the metropolitan and regional context – prepared for the future of integrated urban air mobility (UAM) and CAV systems, and posits a few urban and regional development scenarios to contemplate for next-generation global aviation systems.
Tobias Willuhn
head of program management, aerospace and defense
Rohde & Schwarz
GERMANY
Synopsis: Urban air mobility (UAM) – mobility in the third dimension – is shaping the future of aerospace. In the race to bring eVTOL concepts to global markets and provide safe, secure and sustainable mobility services, aerospace designers and engineers are looking to many different technologies to address the associated challenges. From electrically powered propulsion to automated/autonomous flight, the realization of the UAM vision depends on the seamless integration of various technologies. We will provide unique insight, share best practices and discuss current challenges for testing and validating of key enabler technologies such as sensors (radar), wireless communication (4G, 5G, SatCom), flight navigation (GNSS) and the overall electronic system performance (EMI, EMC).
Nikhil Sachdeva
project manager and lead for electrical propulsion
Roland Berger
UK
Synopsis: The discovery of energy-dense crude oil and the invention of the jet engine enabled the globalization of aviation, making it fast, cheap and accessible to all. However, with the electrification of the automotive industry, new technologies have emerged, and aerospace may be the next to electrify. The rise of electrical propulsion will likely change the industry: giants from Airbus and Boeing to Rolls-Royce and General Electric will jostle for supremacy and may lose ground to new entrants. The trend spells a cleaner and potentially safer future for aviation – but how will companies adapt?
Paola Arellano
head of the architectural department
Systra
FRANCE
Synopsis: Urban air mobility will probably see the light of day in the coming years as many companies are racing to develop the required technology. However, although the technology seems almost there, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the energy requirements. Energy recharging for UAM will dictate the requirements for the infrastructure. Our capacity to integrate these energy systems and infrastructures in cities will be the key to enabling a real mode of mobility. This presentation will focus on the links between these needs and the system sizing, whether that be capacity, fleet or infrastructure.
Marc Kegelaers
CEO
Unifly NV
BELGIUM
Synopsis: Based on his experience as a provider of UTM technology and his work within ICAO’s UAS Advisory Group, Marc will give an overview of the lessons learned and issues to overcome to make urban aerial mobility happen. UAM is regarded as a way of solving traffic congestion issues in large metropolitan areas. However, there are several stumbling blocks that need to be overcome before this can become a reality. Unifly has been involved in ambitious urban aerial mobility demonstrations, such as the SAFIR project in Belgium and the Volocopter demo in Singapore. We will share this experience.
Stephen Wright
associate professor of aerospace engineering
University of the West of England
UK
Synopsis: Automatic stabilization of eVTOL aerial vehicles is well understood and implemented, and attention is now switching to the next level of pilot automation: navigation and flight management. This new challenge can, and perhaps must, be achieved by a variety of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, but how to make them flight-worthy? This talk will address a number of questions posed by the proposed use of airborne AI: how is putting artificial intelligence into aerial vehicles useful? What are the challenges of doing this? What are the potential solutions? Can these solutions be realized?
Gereon Meyer
deputy head of department future mobility and Europe
VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH
GERMANY
Synopsis: Urban air mobility promises a number of relevant use cases in passenger transport, logistics and services. In view of the important role that sensors, actuators and intelligent controls play as enabling technologies for disruptive concepts and applications of drones, the European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration (EPoSS) is working on a European roadmap for smart systems for urban air mobility. This talk summarizes the work by showing technical, socio-economic and legal hurdles, identifying research needs, and highlighting technology transfer options. Issues of public acceptance and transportation planning related to urban air mobility are covered as well.