Electric aero dreams fly on after Uber Air taxi’s hard landing

“It’s been five long years,” Moore said about developing the specialist craft.

Vertiia hopes to fly at 350 km/h and travel 1000 kilometres on a hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery system that produces zero emissions. That puts it within striking distance of Sydney to Melbourne flights at an operational cost of about $60 a seat. The machine will cost about the same as a helicopter of similar capability to purchase, he said.

‘One of the key differentiators for us is that we are self-flying. This is the direction the industry is headed in and where we are developing that technology.’

Wisk vice-president of air operations and Asia Pacific director Catherine MacGowan

The aircraft, which looks like a cross between an old-style box-wing fighter plane and a modern high-tech drone, uses tilt wing technology to increase its speed and range, a key attribute given it aims to replace air ambulances and fixed-wing aircraft around the country.

Moore, a former Royal Australian Navy engineer, and Lyndon, a former Google executive, started the company in 2017 with private backing from investors IP Group Australia, super funds Telstra Super and Host Plus, and coal baron Trevor St Baker’s St Baker Energy Innovation Fund.

“This aircraft will outcompete those small turboprops that currently service a lot of the regional transport market in Australia,” he predicts.

Urban air mobility – think of pilotless, car-sized, flying drones able to take off and land vertically – has long been touted as a game changer for transport, cutting costs and boosting the convenience of short-haul flights, all while bypassing earthly road snarls and congestion. However, AMSL is not the only manufacturer chasing Uber’s dreams.

California-based Wisk, now fully owned by aerospace giant Boeing, is deep into the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification process for the sixth iteration of its pilotless air taxi, a vehicle that looks like a helicopter on steroids.

Another major manufacturer, Brazilian multinational Embraer’s subsidiary Eve Air Mobility, has signed deals with United Airlines to collaborate on bringing electric commuter flights to San Francisco when its technology gains approval.

Wisk vice-president of air operations and Asia Pacific director Catherine MacGowan said the company has leapfrogged human piloted craft to concentrate solely on the self-flying space.

“One of the key differentiators for us is that we are self-flying. This is the direction the industry is headed in and where we are developing that technology,” MacGowan said.

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“There will be no pilot on board. Our aircraft will be supervised from the ground by a multi-vehicle supervisor.”

MacGowan believes there is strong support for pilotless aircraft, although she acknowledges the company faces an uphill battle to convince commuters. “Our challenge is to explain autonomy, to help people understand what autonomy is, and to understand that it’s safe,” she said.

The prospect of cheap, efficient commuter flights and forward-looking aerospace regulators, in the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and Airservices Australia, make Australia a good testing ground for the technology, she said.

CASA has outlined a road map on how it sees the sector evolving.

“In the next five years, the diversity of small to medium remotely piloted aircraft systems will be better understood, with clearer approval pathways harmonised with national and international regulation,” the regulator says.

But by 2030, it says: “Most currently known use cases for remotely piloted aircraft systems are expected to be mature with expansive access to lower-level airspace and supporting regulations in place.”

The country’s national carrier, Qantas, has so far ruled out developing a vertical take-off and landing capacity. “We’re not actively pursuing anything in the eVTOL [electric vertical take-off and landing] space at present,” a Qantas spokesman said.

Reece Clothier, president of the Australian Association of Uncrewed Systems, said manufacturers had been quick to overcome any remaining technical challenges to making eVTOL craft safe. “The challenge is really in the regulatory space as well as building community trust and earning the community license to start rolling out a whole new aviation sector,” he said.

The most compelling use for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft in the country will be for scheduled commuter transport, he said, similar to the self-flying air taxi network being championed by Wisk and south-east Queensland’s councils ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games.

So, will the flight to air mobility follow Uber’s unrealistic aspirations or evolve at a slower pace?

“Complete urban air mobility will probably take about a decade [to transpire], but there are lots of applications in the regions and on the edges of cities, whether it be air ambulance or passenger and cargo transport, that will rapidly take advantage of the technology,” Moore believes.

“From 2026 onwards, you’ll start to see more and more of these aircraft fulfilling roles that normal aircraft currently do and then over time they will replace trucks, cars and ambulances,” he said.

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