In July 2019, research and development center Tecnalia in Spain’s Basque region conducted tethered indoor test flights of the prototype of an unusual “drone of drones” design for an autonomous air taxi. Now Spanish unmanned aircraft services provider Umiles has acquired the design from Tecnalia with the goal of producing the first 100% domestically developed electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) vehicle.
Startup ZeroAvia has partnered with Mitsubishi’s CRJ support division, MHI RJ Aviation, to develop hydrogen-electric propulsion for regional jets, aiming for market availability in 2028.
Airflow has signed a memorandum of understanding with Honeywell to explore use of the avionics manufacturer’s IntuVue RDR-84K compact multimode radar for detect-and-avoid on its planned electric short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Citing increased confidence following static tests of its ultraquiet electric propulsors, startup Whisper Aero has accelerated plans to use the technology in a quiet, efficient electric general aviation aircraft.
The European Space Agency and UK air navigation service provider NATS are exploring whether 5G cellular communications technology could help to provide a resilient positioning capability for uncrewed air systems.
Backed by Chinese electric car maker XPeng, startup HT Aero has reached agreement to raise more than $500 million to develop an integrated flying and driving vehicle.
A central tenet of Uber’s Elevate vision for urban aerial ride sharing was that this is commercial air transport—aircraft owned by airlines and flown by professional pilots plying between vertiports.
Volocopter and logistics company DB Schenker conducted the first public demonstration of the VoloDrone heavy-lift unmanned cargo aircraft at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg on Oct. 12, and followed up by announcing plans for a mobile takeoff and landing platform for the cargo aircraft.
Universal Hydrogen has raised an additional $62 million in funding to take the startup through initial flight testing of its hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion conversion for regional turboprops.
Reliable Robotics has raised an additional $100 million in funding to continue development of its remotely operated aircraft system for cargo and passenger aircraft.
Universal Hydrogen (UH2) has raised an additional $62 million in funding to take the startup through initial flight testing of its hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion conversion for regional turboprops.
Austrian startup CycloTech has begun tethered flight tests of a demonstrator equipped with its cycloidal rotor technology for vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
As Rolls-Royce continues its push into electrified propulsion, the engine maker has signed an agreement to establish facilities in Germany for developing, testing and producing hybrid-electric power trains.
U.S. battery startup Lyten is looking to electric aircraft as a potential early market for its energy-dense lithium-sulfur batteries as it scales up to meet expected demand from the automotive industry by 2025-26.
A shift from electric and hybrid-electric propulsion toward hydrogen is evident among sustainable aircraft projects announced so far this year, according to European consultancy Roland Berger.
U.S. startup Prometheus Fuels expects to begin delivering commercial quantities of its carbon-neutral sustainable aviation fuel toward the end of 2022.
Startup VerdeGo Aero has validated the efficiency of its VH-3 hybrid-electric powerplant in more than 500 full-scale ground tests of prototype systems since mid-2020.
EC Power has received a U.S. Air Force contract to develop a lithium-ion battery cell capable of extreme fast charging of electrified aircraft and ground vehicles.
Identifying advanced air mobility as a target market, Solvay has introduced a new thermoset composite resin system while ramping up its capacity to meet growing demand for thermoplastic composites.
