The railroads defined the West, air rights define the skies
A future forged from history opens up the possibilities for flying cars
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The new frontier
When we think of a new frontier it’s often in terms of the West and the development of the US. Sometimes it’s space exploration, sci-fi books and movies, exploring new locations, opportunities and a restless search for advancement. The points in history where new frontiers were searched out had both positive a negative consequences, the genetic lottery decided which side of the frontier you were on. Nevertheless, advancement is rarely without pitfalls and certainly not linear. Growth comes in fits and starts, it ebbs and sometimes explodes with force or fades away into obscurity. None of this is a reason to stop looking to advance ourselves, to find better ways of living, to find ways to make transportation, which is the life blood of humans, orders of magnitude better.
It is hard to find any ground breaking societal advancement that didn’t have detractors. Some people and special interests want to shut innovation down before it starts. There are any number of reasons and motivations why this is the case. What is clear is advancement in transportation has enormous benefits to offer us today, like it did for previous generations. We all still benefit from the advancements in transportation and need to remember it’s not over. The opportunity is in front of us.
Transportation technologies such as drones, autonomous vehicles and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft offer immense promise to allow Americans more freedom in where to live. These technologies also allow government officials and the public to reimagine transportation and reform stubborn problems. - Brent Skorup
When looking for ways to get my flying car there are two primary elements that jump out. A car that can fly and the air space to travel through. If I don’t have one of these I’m grounded. Searching we can find the first element. We have the technology that can fly a ‘car’ in the air. We’ve had flight for generations, nothing new there, granted quite a bit of optimisation has happened since the Wright brothers.
The second element is the air to transit through. This sounds easy, we have air everywhere, but not all air is the same. The same way that not all land is the same in terms of ownership. This has been well establish in law and practice, if I want to travel through someones front yard I need to ask them. We may strike a deal where they let me walk through it for a fee. I want to use their space, they want a return, bingo. Not a concept anyone reading this is unfamiliar with. Nor is it a concept landowners and governments are unfamiliar with either. But there are forces who think co-opting property in the form of air rights is the way to go so they can eliminate the need to compensate the air rights owners. This is a very dangerous place to be, do we want that as the brave new world?
Opening up the skies, increasing transportation links and human mobility will grow our economies in enormous ways but we need to keep our eyes wide open.
(Lexica)
Lessons in history
The railroads in the US were built out West, with a forward thinking government and venture capital. The results were obviously not known in advance, but these innovators forged ahead and the rest, as they say is history. If those who funded the railroad in the 1800’s were around today would they be funding a new product that helps to increase downloads of a new app for our lip-syncing and dancing needs or would they be seeking out generational advancements?
The transcontinental railroad made transportation faster and more efficient, facilitating the movement of goods, people, and ideas across countries. The Pacific Railroad Act also demonstrated the federal government's commitment to westward expansion and its role in promoting economic growth and development.
This globally significant growth was not loved by everyone. Canal boats and the canal industry experienced a decline with the growth of railroads, as the speed and efficiency of rail transport made it a more attractive option for transporting goods and people. Benefits and new ways of doing business were forced upon people with progress, in common parlance, they were forced to pivot.
One benefit to the incandescent canal boat owners was that the competition from railroads forced them to modernize their operations, improve their efficiency and crucially adjust their economic models. Like the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operators will need to do as the sky trade market is more widely established for air rights. Some canals introduced steam powered tugboats to tow barges, which increased their speed and allowed them to carry more cargo. New niches in the transportation market were found. Canals that were located in scenic areas became popular with tourists, who enjoyed taking leisurely boat trips through the countryside.
There were some instances where canals and railroads worked together rather than in competition. For example, in some cases, canal companies built short rail lines to connected to the nearest railroad depot, which allowed them to transport goods more quickly and efficiently than they could with boats alone. This can teach us lessons for flying vehicle advancement.
The trains have their railroads and canal boats their water ways. We can have our highways in the sky? jonathan@skytrades.io
(Lexica)
Autonomous Cargo - Dronamics $40M Seed Round
Autonomous cargo aircraft, rather than people-carrying drones, are where a lot of potential lies for the drone industry. The economic savings from using large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo transportation are expected to be significant. To be faster, cheaper, and produce fewer CO2 emissions than conventional aircraft, enabling same-day shipping over very long distances would be the goal.
Several companies are already operating in this space, including ElroyAir, Natilus, and Beta. Now London-based Dronamics, which has obtained a license to operate in Europe and plans to run a "cargo drone airline". Dronamics claims that its flagship "Black Swan" model will be able to carry 350 kg (770 lb) at a distance of up to 2,500 km (1,550 miles) faster, cheaper, and with fewer emissions than currently available options.
Dronamics has raised a total of $40 million in seed funding from VCs and Angels, including Founders Factory, Speedinvest, Eleven Capital, and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF), the investment arm of the Tawazun Council, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The SDF venture capital division's investment in Dronamics will result in the creation of a UAE-based joint venture, creating a Dronamics operations hub for the Middle East and North Africa region.
Dronamics is licensed to fly under the new EU drone regulations, has a comparatively low cost profile, and sells capacity, not aircraft, allowing for a shorter feedback loop between R&D and operations and quicker innovation and iteration than their people carrying counterparts.
(Dronamics)
Air Taxis For The Olympics.
The acting administrator of the US Federal Aviation Administration, Billy Nolen, has publicly stated that he believes the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles would be the perfect opportunity to showcase America's leadership in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) technology. Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, pointed to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as the event when the emerging eVTOL industry could shine on a world stage. Major US airlines such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have invested $200m in Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, respectively, indicating the airlines' confidence in the viability of eVTOLs as commercial vehicles. Many other start-ups are working to develop and certificate eVTOLs in coming years.
Air taxi business models tend to assume operators will recoup their costs by flying eVTOLs thousands of hours annually. Challenges posed by developing new infrastructure and air traffic control systems are issues which need to be scalable, taking into account all stakeholders. Many entrepreneurs and investment executives share a futuristic vision of a highly connected fleet of eVTOL vehicles in the sky above Southern California within five years. To do this the air rights need to align.
Air rights will help us
It’s important to watch out for any erosion of rights. In the rush for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle future we need to be careful that our rights are not circumvented with the excuse that we are being protected. Rights can be taken away, to paraphrase Hemingway, in two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.
We can’t let the drive for a zero failure rate in UAVs mean we never get them. We accept levels of risk in all corners of our lives from car accidents to swimming incidents, we don’t drain the oceans and ban cars.
Just because we have drone and UAV technology doesn’t mean we can utilise it at scale unless we address the primary issue, air rights. Bringing fragmented air rights into a market will mean UAV development will speed up exponentially. Making sure air rights are codified and accessible in a format that can be commercially useful is my mission. jonathan@skytrades.io
(Copyright: © Nicholas Greenaway)
Contact: jonathan@skytrades.io