To get our flying cars we need flying roads.
Time to build......
Thank you to everyone who has shared the newsletter, its great to have so many investors, entrepreneurs and curious minds wanting to know where are the flying cars and how you can help us build the flying roads. A special thank you to those who have reached out with advise and information, and signed up as paid subscribers, it is very much appreciated. I hope you like this weeks read.
Next week I will be digging deeper into the regulators role and seeing if these ambidextrous organisations are looking to step on the accelerator or break and how they can be encouraged to help us.
(deepai.org)
In a Marc Andreessen essay It's Time to Build, he asks: (to paraphrase the question)
‘why are we not building now and why are we failing to build in advance?’
Transportation - The Great Accelerator
The railroads in the United States are a wonderful window into how venturers, investors, entrepreneurs, visionaries and armies of ordinary people turned a country into one of the most advanced and prosperous on the planet. American railroads were being built in the early days before the majority of people knew they really needed them. Within 11 years of the West and East coast railroads being connected in the 1890’s the United States became the biggest and most powerful economy on earth. Building what was not fully understood opened up a world so vast, what was known then could not comprehend the advances that this transportation advancement was to yield. The one thing that did not hold them back however was inertia.
Are these people, the investors, venturers, entrepreneurs and visionaries still here - is it only in spirit or do they take human form? Marc continues, “Where are the supersonic aircraft? Where are the millions of delivery drones? Where are the high speed trains, the soaring monorails, the hyperloops, and yes,
(where are) the flying cars?
His clarion call is; “We need to demand more of our political leaders, of our CEOs, our entrepreneurs, our investors…, our culture, of our society. And we need to demand more from one another.” The most expensive mistake to make is to not be an optimist.
(deepai.org)
Just as the trains needed railroads to transport goods and people the Urban Air Mobility industry needs air space to transit through. This means those who own the air rights to the space, from municipalities to farmers and home owners need a place to allow (or not allow) their commercial use by UAV operators. Registering air rights is an important first step.
It’s always worth remembering that while things are difficult to do and even imagine, rarely, if ever is seismic change made without upsetting the order of things. Flying roads that have flying cars is not only an aspiration it can be a reality. In a conversation with Tyler back in 2015 it was put clearly by Peter Thiel how we can make real change and progress. I don’t want to wait another generation for my flying car and ubiquitous drone deliveries, do you?
There’s no straightforward formula for innovation. It’s much easier to do horizontal progress…………….., copying things that work going from one to n, versus vertical progress, technology, doing new things, going from zero to one.
Irish Aviation Authority Aims For Some Drone Integration By End Of 2024”
The State Plan for Aviation Safety, published by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has set out two new actions; to work with the Department of Transport and drone industry stakeholders [undefined] to facilitate the safe integration of drones into the Irish civil aviation system by Q4 2024 and, to work with aircraft operators, airport operators and ANSPs to address the risks of drone infringements at aerodromes in accordance EASA guidance “Drone Incident Management at Aerodromes” by the fourth quarter 2025.
The only conceivable reference to the owners of the air rights appears to be a “National legislation being drafted to address privacy rights and enforcement powers”. This could be the thin edge of the wedge and is one to watch for anyone interested in the erosion of their rights.
As below commercial air space becomes economically valuable the owners of air rights need a way to manage their air rights and this is being built. Land ownership has strong historic and emotional significance in Ireland where constitutional rights are jealously guarded. Registering air rights would help towns, cities, landowners and air space users.
(deepai.org)
Integrating Drones Into National Airspace
A report, linked at the bottom of this page and released by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the “FAA should improve its approach to integrating drones into (the) national airspace system”. This is good news and shows that the FAA are not getting involved in the air rights area, keeping their involvement to where it has authority.
It continues, the “FAA has developed various planning documents to manage its efforts to integrate drones.” But, it has yet to develop a comprehensive strategy to guide these efforts. For example, the FAA’s documents don’t include important elements such as goals and objectives!
Japanese Start-Up Has Designed A Flying Bike
The world's first flying bike was revealed at the Detroit Auto Show. The XTURISMO hoverbike is capable of flying for 40 minutes and reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h. The Japanese start-up behind the flying motorcycle, Aerwins Technologies, first started out making drones and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The hoverbike is already on sale in Japan and a smaller version will be available in the US in 2023 for $777,000. The company hopes to get the cost down to $50,000 for a smaller electric model by 2025.
(start-up selfie)
Japan Moves Closer To eVTOL Launch
The Japanese market took a step forward as Vertical Aerospace announced a pre-delivery payment from Marubeni for 25 of the 200 planned VX4 aircraft. Marubeni has already successfully conducted proof of concept in the city of Osaka.
Significant backing from the Japanese government has pushed Japan to the front of the list of early adopter countries and is now the first country in Asia to move past LOI's to actual payment for aircraft. SkyScape Japan(DroNext) has begun mapping out the current ecosystem.
(aviation source news)
Fully-Automated eVTOL Flights In Germany
Unmanned aircraft are getting ready to become a regular presence in urban centres.
eVTOLs must be part of a wider, shared system of air rights owners, other air space users and with vertiports. Skyroads wants this managed through a traffic management platform. The first automated flight test centre will be located at the Augsburg Airport in Germany, it will offer a much-needed platform for specific tests to all the players in the industry.
The new automated flight test site will also offer technical support for the certification process. Manta Aircraft and Supernal (Hyundai) have already been announced as partners for the project. Skyroads has started equipping its automated flight test site at Augsburg Airport
The new test site itself needs to make sure that its future operations won’t affect in any way the current air traffic and airport operations in the area. Who manages this space should depend on who owns it?
(supernal)
ASKA Flying Car
A functional flying car prototype, the A5 eVTOL. It is capable of taking off and landing straight vertically, similar to a helicopter or rotating-engine jet. The car was shown in a fully-functional state capable of driving, taking off, and flying.
The ASKA A5 eVTOL requires a speed of 105 km/hr to take off horizontally, which it achieves in under five seconds. This means the A5 requires a small runway of only 76 meters. The company stated that the vehicle aspect of the plane is not a gimmick and is, in fact, cost-effective, as the electric vehicle engine accelerates significantly quicker than a dedicated airplane propeller would be capable of.
(designboom)
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