Page 9 - World Airnews Magazine February Edition 2021

AUTONOMOUS
NEWS
POD

BELL’S AUTONOMOUS

POD TRANSPORT

INCLUDE ‘DISABLED CITIZENS’

possible stage in the process; we want to
get best-practice in accessibility built into FAST FACTS

egulators, local authorities and the early development and DNA of the The drone and urban air taxi

Rindustry groups around the world industry, so that those with most to gain revolution has arrived. Bell’s ATP Reaches New Milestone: Carries 110 lbs. of Payload

will need to incorporate the views and are not left behind.” • The COVID-19 pandemic has
priorities of disabled groups in their early If this new transport era is to be fully fast-forwarded the era of drone-

planning phase if the promise - and full realised it can only be done on the basis of based deliveries, providing com-

market value - of advanced air mobility inclusivity, to ensure the needs of disabled munities in lockdown with vital

citizens are fully taken into account from
(AAM) and urban air mobility (UAM) sys- the start. medical supplies ell’s Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) has

tems are to be fully realised. According to the White Paper these are h�ps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ Bfl own with 110Ibs (50 KG) of payload over

This is according to a white paper pub- key areas which need to be addressed, technology-52206660 an eight-mile (12.9 KM) route at Bell’s testing site

lished jointly by a UK based disabled flying urgently. First is ensuring developers of • The drone market will be near Fort Worth, Texas. To date, the APT flight

charity organisation called Aerobility and UAM ground infrastructure and platforms worth up to $43 billion by 2025 test program has completed over 300 flights and

a global trade association of the advanced fully take into account the needs of disabled h�ps://www.heliguy.com/ has been envisaged to provide efficient, rapid and

air mobility sector called CIVATAglobal. passengers - and the non-travelling public blog/2020/06/24/global-drone- dependable transport for payloads up to 70lbs. Refurbished GSE
“From the outset, UAM/AAM services - in considering issues of access and egress. market-will-grow-to-42-billion- The vehicle is capable of autonomous flight,
must be planned with the needs of those Second, aviation safety regulators must by-2025/ automatically flying a programmed flight route We buy and sell

who stand to benefit most from its intro- take account of the needs of people with • The first flight of an electric air and handling an array of contingency functions

duction in mind - disabled communities,” reduced mobility in their regulations. Third, taxi in a European city took place including medical deliveries, third-party logistics,

said Mike Miller-Smith, CEO of Aerobility. in smart city programmes where autono- in 2019 offshore delivery, humanitarian relief and many

“People will be able to fly from origin to mous vehicles are being planned (air and h�ps://www.youtube.com/ more.
destination in ways which seem only ap- ground), it is vital that disabled community watch?v=NxBTzAbPSeY Commenting on the milestone, John Wittmaak,

propriate to science fiction. Once beyond groups are incorporated into the earliest • In January China’s EHang Programme Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems,

prototype stage, autonomous air vehicle planning. Before eVTOLs are flying in our launched the world’s first pas- Bell Flight said, “The APT flight test team continues

design will need to develop in ways that cities they will have to be given not just an senger-carrying autonomous to push the capabilities of our aircraft, and we are

enable their use by visually impaired pas- aviation safety regulator’s certificate to fly electric air taxi sight-seeing flights excited to hit this milestone. As we adapt to cus-

sengers and those requiring wheel-chair but a licence from the communities they h�ps://www.youtube.com/ tomer needs, in the past year we have continued

access for example, just as has been done will be serving. Fourth, a repository of “best watch?v=r8HiyGn7VF4& to push the aircraft’s boundaries, increasing the

and is required on many other urban trans- practices” from around the world needs to feature=emb_logo payload capability from 70 Ibs to 110 Ibs.”

port networks. Much to the detriment of be launched so developers can understand • By 2040, UAM vehicles could be He said, “APT serves as another example of
those living with disability, we have learnt not just the basic principles but the detailed carrying more than 400 million Bell’s continued innovative drive that has mo-
the hard and expensive way, that this will engineering solutions. passengers a year tivated our talented team since the days of

be much more difficult to achieve if not The White Paper can be accessed here: Ur- h�ps://assets.kpmg/content/ breaking the sound barrier and supporting NASA’s

incorporated early.” ban Air Mobility - White Paper — Aerobility. dam/kpmg/ie/pdf/2019/10/ lunar missions. Now we are incredibly excited to

“In December 2020, 14 European cities For more information please contact: ie-urban-air-mobility.pdf demonstrate APT and see how many possibilities www.airbusiness-gse.com
delivered a manifesto to the European Marcus O’Shea, Head of Fundrais- • By 2050 there will be up to lay in store.”
Union calling on local authorities to play ing, Marketing & Communications at 160,000 commercial air taxis Developed by innovative teams, APT delivers

a key role in the development of UAM ini- Aerobility on marcus@Aerobility.com operating mobility without the usual cost, footprint or spe-

tiatives in Europe,” said Andrew Charlton, www.aerobility.com or Philip Butter- h�ps://www.rolandberger.com/ cialized training, required to operate conventional Air Business GSE Gulf and India : +971 56 447 5207

director general of CIVATAglobal worth-Hayes, Director of Communica- en/Insights/Publications/The- aircraft. In 2021 APT is expected to demonstrate 1 rue de la Haye 95731 Roissy CDG Central Africa : +235 66 55 33 33

“Our two organisations are now also tions and Strategy at CIVATAglobal on high-flying-industry-Urban-Air- even more military and commercial operations France West Africa : + 225 01 01 52 62

South Africa : +27 72 521 65 63

calling for UAM plans to include represen- Phil.Butterworth-Hayes@civataglobal. Mobility-takes-off.html while simplifying user interfaces and enhancing the gse@airbusiness.fr Русский: +374 91 150 566

tatives of disability groups at the earliest org; www.civataglobal.org Q aircraft’s autonomous features. Q Tel. +33 17 379 17 17 Asia: +65 9616 4106

World Airnews | February 2021 World Airnews | February 2021
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