Flying Towards the Finish Line

In the last two decades, hundreds of flying taxi concepts were produced and today about a dozen are getting ready to enter the commercial transportation arena. As the flying taxis or, by the more commonly used term, eVTOLs (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) are coming closer to the finish line, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) market started to become more attractive. According to Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI), by 2040, Advanced and Urban Air Mobility market has the possibility to reach as much as $1.9 Trillion opportunity globally, at least $500 Billion of this being US market only¹. Although aerospace industry has been among the hardest hit by COVID-19 pandemic, investors continued to be interested in UAM, staying optimistic about the outcomes of this disruptive technology.

This new mode of transportation comes with both its challenges and opportunities. While many companies try to transform their concepts into reality, at the same time, for a smooth transition to mass production, they prepare themselves for the manufacturing and supply chain hurdles. Building ground infrastructures and on-demand mobility services are other aspects that many are working to secure their share in the market early in the game. As the race comes closer to the finish line, competition gets more intense. Some companies already stand out with the progress they made attracting more public attention. Here are a couple of them that are under my radar:

Joby Aviation

Joby is one of the pioneers in this game changing industry. Like many of its competitors, it does not reveal much of the technologies behind its vehicle prototypes. Company was able to obtain its first airworthiness certification for the four seater prototype from U.S. military under the support of U.S. Air Force Agility Prime program. Next step is to receive FAA certification for commercial flights for Joby Generation 2.0 which is likely to be the production model². Generation 2.0 is a five seated eVTOL driven by six tilt propellers³. Another primary focus for the company was to establish strategic partnerships across the industries. Company was able to raise over $1 Billion to date, Toyota covering the majority of the investments. Intention of this partnership is to benefit Toyota’s expertise in automated manufacturing processes. Announced in December 2020, Joby acquired Uber Elevate who has been leading efforts to bring on-demand air transportation service in populated cities. Uber Elevate acquisition means that the company will not remain solely as a vehicle technology developer but it has intentions to dominate the industry also as a service provider. Moreover, the company moved one step forward in the competition and getting ready to be listed in NYSE. IPO is planned to be in Q2 of 2021 through SPAC merger and is expected to provide $1.6 B additional cash to the company⁴.

Volocopter

Bruchsal, Germany based company plans to commercialize its 2-seater eVTOL, Volocity for intra-city transportation. Company targets validation of airworthiness and certification, first from EASA by the end of 2022 and shortly after from FAA. Certification from the two major aviation organizations would allow entry to not only US and Europe but also other global markets faster⁵. Volocopter partners with Daimler and Chinese auto maker Geely to scale up its vehicle production. Additionally, company works jointly with Lufthansa Industry Solutions and Microsoft to develop VoloIQ software platform for scalable operations. Besides partnerships within the industry, Volocopter collaborates with governments and city authorities for global entry to the market. Among several flight demonstrations, a noteworthy one took place over Singapore Marina Bay in October 2019 for 2 mins covering a distance 1.5 km with a pilot on board. Demonstrations included a showcase of the full-scale prototype of a vertiport, VoloPort, built in collaboration with Skyports – a UK-based UAM infrastructure provider. Volocopter, while continuing to work with Skyports, aims to launch air taxi services in the city by 2023⁶.

(Featured Image Source: Wikimedia Commons/ Voloport in Singapore (2019) by Brandlab is licenced under CC BY 4.0)

Bell Nexus

Bell stands out among its competitors with its 80 years of experience in VTOL flight industry serving both military and commercial markets. According to company website, Bell Nexus 4EX is a hybrid electric vehicle with six ducted fans that can tilt from helicopter mode for VTOL to airplane mode in cruise. This four seater eVTOL has an additional seat for the pilot although it is designed, ultimately, to operate fully autonomous. Bell plans to put Nexus to service by mid-2020s.

Lilium Jet

Lilium has one of the most extraordinary propulsion system designs. Recently, company published multiple videos on its Youtube channel providing insights for the progress of its seven-seater eVTOL, including the propulsion mechanism that is driven by 36 electric ducted fan engines. The system has already been subject to much skepticism from the industry experts⁷. However, company must have been successful in convincing their investors otherwise that Lilium Jet was able to raise more than $375M to date⁸. Also, engaged in infrastructure solutions, on November 2020 company announced they will be building their first vertiport at Lake Nona by Orlando International Airport in Florida. Lilium aims to obtain certification and validation of airworthiness in 2024⁹.

Wisk

Wisk is a joint venture between Boeing and Larry Page’s Kitty Hawk based in San Francisco Bay Area and New Zealand. Company benefits Boeing expertise in scalable operations while racing towards the finish line with its 2-seated, fully autonomous, all electric air taxi, Cora which started development under Kitty Hawk in 2010. Cora uses 12 lift fans for VTOL and one single propeller and fixed-wings during cruise flight. Wisk is working closely with New Zealand Government to bring the vehicle to service in the country. Cora has been the central piece of Country’s Airspace Integration trial program and completed more than 1000 flight tests to date according to company website. So far, Cora only holds Experimental Airworthiness Certificate from CAA and FAA.

EHang

Guangzhou, China based company takes a holistic approach in building and testing multiple elements of the ecosystem including vertiports and digital infrastructure together with vehicle development. Ehang chose Guangzhou as its testbed for operations working with the state’s government. Furthermore, to our knowledge, Ehang was also the first independent eVTOL company to go public, announcing an IPO on December 2019. Ehang plans to expand its operations globally, China being company’s core market. Ehang vehicles completed multiple flight demos at several countries including China, Europe and Qatar¹⁰. All-electric, fully autonomous, 2 seated model Ehang 216 conducted its first test flight in the US in January 2020 under a trial flight approval from FAA¹¹.