Important Innovations

  Miami Becoming a Global Capital of Flying Taxis Flying Taxi Partnership Between Hyundai & Miami Hyundai's urban air mobility division, Supernal, has signed an agreement with the city of Miami to launch air taxi services in South Florida by 2028.  The agreement establishes a framework to win buy in from industry and community stakeholders in order to achieve the regulatory approvals needed to start air taxi services.   Strategic Flying Plan Supernal is a young startup, formed by Hyundai in November 2021. The agreement to start operations in Miami is their first air taxi deal. Supernal's strategic plan is to develop an air taxi network as an integrated component of an end-to-end ridesharing, app-based system. The company is currently developing their air taxi model with Boston Dynamics, HTWO and Motional. From the artist renderings of the eVTOL, it appears to be a tilt rotor, propulsion design aircraft with fixed wings.  The vehicle would carry 4 to 5 passengers.  It would

  Miami Becoming a Global Capital of Flying Taxis Source:  Hyundai's Supernal Flying Taxi Partnership Between Hyundai & Miami Hyundai's urban air mobility division, Supernal, has signed an agreement with the city of Miami to launch air taxi services in South Florida by 2028.  The agreement establishes a framework to win buy in from industry and community stakeholders in order to achieve the regulatory approvals needed to start air taxi services.   Strategic Flying Plan Supernal is a young startup, formed by Hyundai in November 2021. The agreement to start operations in Miami is their first air taxi deal. Supernal's strategic plan is to develop an air taxi network as an integrated component of an end-to-end ridesharing, app-based system. The company is currently developing their air taxi model with Boston Dynamics, HTWO and Motional. From the artist renderings of the eVTOL, it appears to be a tilt rotor, propulsion design aircraft with fixed wings.  The vehicle would car

  Boeing & Porsche Partner on Flying Porsches                   Source:  Porsche & Boeing Flying Car Concepts Multinational Research Effort Porsche and Boeing are combining their respective sports car and aircraft expertise to create a flying Porsche for your personal commuting.  An international team of experts from Chicago based Boeing and German based Porsche are coming together to work on the development project in three R&D locations: Germany, Switzerland and the United States.  Porsche will design the vehicle's body.  Boeing will engineer and develop the airborne vehicle's capabilities.   Air Traffic Control and Regulatory Environment The two global companies are also taking on a much wider challenge to ensure the eventual rollout of their new flying car technologies and other flying cars and urban air mobility systems.  They intend to focus on air traffic control and the regulatory environment for flying cars, including a new air traffic management system.  N

  NASA Is Partnering With Orlando, FL on eVTOLs                                                                                      Source:  Lillium Preparations Underway to Welcome Urban Air Mobility Vehicles NASA is partnering with the city of Orlando, Florida to welcome, develop facilities and infrastructure and establish a regulatory environment to accommodate flying taxis and flying cars.  The city of Orlando's first vertiport for vertical takeoffs and landings of eventual fleets of flying taxis will be built by Lillium, the German based leading developer of electric vertical take-off and landing flying taxis (eVTOLS).  The first vertiport in the US is planned for the Lake Nona area of Orlando.  The vertiport is expected to cost $25 million with two landing pads and the capacity to charge 8 vehicles simultaneously.  Many more vertiports in Florida are planned from Miami to Palm Beach and beyond.  It's the beginning of a revolutionary new way to travel within cities and ci

  eVTOLs For City Commuting - Honda's New Biz Line                                                                      Source:  Honda's eVTOL Next G Urban Air Mobility Honda is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) flying taxi to make "mobility in the sky more accessible to people."  Just using electricity, it can travel 100 miles.  When combined with a turbine engine, the hybrid electric eVTOL can travel 400 miles.  Honda recently disclosed that it is going full throttle into the flying taxi business.  Their eVTOL is specifically designed for intra-city and city to city travel, which Honda believes is about to grow significantly. In a presentation, Honda used the example of a businessperson on Cape Cod using the eVTOL to quickly and smoothly travel from the Cape to New York City and back within a day. Tech Specs The eVTOL uses 8, small propellers to get lift and then deploys 3 pusher props and its wings to fly forwards.  The power to fl

Honda eVTOLs For City Commuting                                                                      Source:  Honda's eVTOL Next G Urban Air Mobility Honda is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) flying taxi to make "mobility in the sky more accessible to people."  Just using electricity, it can travel 100 miles.  When combined with a turbine engine, the hybrid electric eVTOL can travel 400 miles.  Honda recently disclosed that it is going full throttle into the flying taxi business.  Their eVTOL is specifically designed for intra-city and city to city travel, which Honda believes is about to grow significantly. In a presentation, Honda used the example of a businessperson on Cape Cod using the eVTOL to quickly and smoothly travel from the Cape to New York City and back within a day. Tech Specs The eVTOL uses 8, small propellers to get lift and then deploys 3 pusher props and its wings to fly forwards.  The power to fly is generated by a hyb

  The Zero Emissions Travel Revolution                                                  Source:  Lilium Lilium Acing Tests Flights and Going Public  Powered by 36 electric engines, Germany based Lilium's 5th generation demonstrator eVTOL is a sterling example of the zero emissions travel revolution that is rapidly emerging.  Lilium continues to go through test flights which demonstrate the aircraft's ability to very quietly vertically take off, fly, hover and vertically land like a helicopter.  The 36 electric engines are stacked across the wings.  The e-engines are powered by 72 battery systems inside the aircraft.  Lilium has a top cruising speed of 175 mph at an altitude of 10,000 feet with a range of more than 155 miles on a charge.  Its first market for commercial operations is Florida with 14 cities as hubs for air taxi service within the next 3 to 4 years. Room for 7 & Getting Production Ready The current, 5th generation demonstrator Lilium has 7 seats.  The sound cr

  The Zero Emissions Travel Revolution                                                  Source:  Lilium Lilium Acing Tests Flights and Going Public  Powered by 36 electric engines, Germany based Lilium's 5th generation demonstrator eVTOL is a sterling example of the zero emissions travel revolution that is rapidly emerging.  Lilium continues to go through test flights which demonstrate the aircraft's ability to very quietly vertically take off, fly, hover and vertically land like a helicopter.  The 36 electric engines are stacked across the wings.  The e-engines are powered by 72 battery module systems inside the aircraft.  Lilium has a top cruising speed of 175 mph at an altitude of 10,000 feet with a range of more than 155 miles on a charge.  Its first market for commercial operations is Florida with 14 cities as hubs for air taxi service within the next 3 to 4 years.  Flying taxis or eVTOLs are a disruptive, zero emissions, urban air mobility type of vehicle that are about t

  Joby Aviation's e-VTOL Being Tested by NASA                                                                      Source:  Joby and NASA NASA's Ultimate Goal:  Safely Accelerate Use of Air Taxis NASA has started testing a future air taxi for use to ferry passengers and cargo, particularly in big, congested cities.  The vehicle is a six rotor, all electric e-VTOL (electric, vertical take off and landing vehicle) developed by startup company Joby Aviation of California.  This particular aircraft is designed to be as quiet as possible in order to operate in busy cities and relieve traffic congestion without a lot of noise pollution. Joby plans to put its flying taxis into commercial operation in 2024.  NASA's ultimate goal in initiating its testing program is to safely accelerate the use of flying taxis in the US. Air Noise Pollution Tests The tests are being conducted by NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) group, which has launched a national campaign for the development

Hyundai Completes Acquisition of Leading Robot Developer Boston Dynamics                                Source:  Hyundai & Boston Dynamics Synergies of Robotics and Automakers Hyundai Motor Group has completed its acquisition of Boston Dynamics, a world leader in developing agile, mobile robots such as Spot the robodog.  Boston Dynamics was valued at $1.1 billion with Hyundai having an 80% stake and SoftBank owning 20%.  The question is why would a global automaker buy a robotics company?  The answer:  Hyundai is going into robotics in multidimensional ways, including autonomous cars, urban air mobility vehicles and robots. Robotic Value Chain Hyundai says that it and Boston Dynamics will create a robotic value chain for everything from robot component manufacturing to smart logistics solutions.  Hyundai already has significant internal robotic expertise including factory automation, wearable exoskeletons to protect and strengthen workers and a service robot that performs hotel dut

Hyundai Completes Acquisition of Leading Robot Developer Boston Dynamics                                Source:  Hyundai & Boston Dynamics Synergies of Robotics and Automakers Hyundai Motor Group has completed its acquisition of Boston Dynamics, a world leader in developing agile, mobile robots such as Spot the robodog.  Boston Dynamics was valued at $1.1 billion with Hyundai having an 80% stake and SoftBank owning 20%.  The question is why would a global automaker buy a robotics company?  The answer:  Hyundai is going into robotics in multidimensional ways, including autonomous cars, urban air mobility vehicles and robots. Robotic Value Chain Hyundai says that it and Boston Dynamics will create a robotic value chain for everything from robot component manufacturing to smart logistics solutions.  Hyundai already has significant internal robotic expertise including factory automation, wearable exoskeletons to protect and strengthen workers and a service robot that performs hotel dut

  Flying Car Development is Accelerating   Source:  Hyundai Flying Taxi Concepts  Hyundai Sees Flying Taxi Commercialization in US By 2025 GM and Hyundai are accelerating their development of flying cars. South Korea automaker Hyundai believes it could have an air taxi service operational within four years and possibly before 2025.  GM believes its air taxi service will be up and running by 2030 because of technical and regulatory issues that the entire industry needs to address.  There are a growing number of developers in the field ranging from startups to global airplane makers like Airbus.  The flying cars under development are largely eVTOLs or electric, vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.  They take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane.  They are powered by electric batteries with zero emissions. Hyundai in aTake Off Mode Hyundai says it is already ahead of schedule to roll out air mobility vehicles.  Hyundai COO and CEO North America Jose Munoz says that he thi

   Archer Aviation's Maker                                                                      Source:  Archer Aviation All Electric Flying Taxi Rides California based Archer Aviation has become the latest entrant in the very hot, eVTOL, flying taxi, global market.  Archer just debuted its all electric, flying taxi Maker, which already has landed a huge, $1 billion order from United Airlines.  The interest in vehicles that are zero emissions, take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane is rapidly accelerating.  Investors and aviation companies are chasing after a piece of the action.  In particular, aviation companies are seeking new urban air mobility markets while facing intense pressure from regulators and the public to decarbonize their operations through battery powered electric flying vehicles.  The flying taxi market is valued in the billions of dollars and presents a prime opportunity. Tech Specs Maker is a piloted, 4 passenger vehicle that is in the certifica

  Archer Aviation's Maker                                                                      Source:  Archer Aviation All Electric Flying Taxi Rides California based Archer Aviation has become the latest entrant in the very hot, eVTOL, flying taxi, global market.  Archer just debuted its all electric, flying taxi Maker, which already has landed a huge, $1 billion order from United Airlines.  The interest in vehicles that are zero emissions, take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane is rapidly accelerating.  Investors and aviation companies are chasing after a piece of the action.  In particular, aviation companies are seeking new urban air mobility markets while facing intense pressure from regulators and the public to decarbonize their operations through battery powered electric flying vehicles.  The flying taxi market is valued in the billions of dollars and presents a prime opportunity. Tech Specs Maker is a piloted, 4 passenger vehicle that is in the certificat

Prototype Demonstrator eVTOL  Source:  Airbus Vahana & helicopter Urban Air Mobility Airbus Vahana is the experimental eVTOL that is the basis and inspiration for the next generation of electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles ((eVTOLs)) at Airbus, the European multinational aerospace corporation.  The vehicle started as a design on a napkin and within 4 years it converted into a fully operational eVTOL.  The vehicle's final test flight happened in Oregon in late 2019.  Airbus Air Mobility is now using the technology to design the next generation of eVTOLs to clear regulatory hurdles and put the vehicles into service as flying taxis. Technical Demonstrator Model According to Airbus, Vahana has contributed major new technology that is being deployed in for next-G eVTOLS including: A fully operational eVTOL vehicle model with a tilt-wing configuration and battery-to-electric motor solution Successful self-piloting technologies that are fully capable of au