Skip to main content

Honeywell and Volocopter sign air taxi testing deal

German urban air taxi manufacturer Volocopter has signed a deal with Honeywell to jointly develop new navigation and automatic landing systems. They will be used on Volocopter’s vertical take-off and landing aircraft - perhaps as early as this year, the companies suggest. “A key goal of our collaboration is to fly a Honeywell inertial measurement-based attitude reference system solution in one of our Volocopters in 2019,” says Jan Hendrik Boelens, chief technology officer, Volocopter. Urban air mob
April 16, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

German urban air taxi manufacturer 8772 Volocopter has signed a deal with 3857 Honeywell to jointly develop new navigation and automatic landing systems.

They will be used on Volocopter’s vertical take-off and landing aircraft - perhaps as early as this year, the companies suggest.

“A key goal of our collaboration is to fly a Honeywell inertial measurement-based attitude reference system solution in one of our Volocopters in 2019,” says Jan Hendrik Boelens, chief technology officer, Volocopter.

Urban air mobility is seen by its supporters as having a key role to play in cities of the future. Volocopter plans to test its air taxis in %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 37214 0 link-external Singapore false /categories/utc/news/volocopter-to-test-electric-air-taxis-in-singapore-in-2019/ false false%> later this year and has signed an agreement with authorities at %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 38315 0 link-external Frankfurt false /sections/general/news/volocopter-and-fraport-to-develop-ground-infrastructure-for-air-taxis/ false false%> Airport to develop ground infrastructure.

“Congestion and traffic jams continue to be time killers for people in modern megacities,” Boelens says. “New time-saving, environmentally-friendly solutions are required, and air taxis will certainly be one of them. Honeywell’s wealth of experience and knowledge in the development of next-generation avionics technologies combined with our manufacturing expertise will make autonomous, on-demand air mobility a reality across the world.”

Honeywell has a range of autonomous sensing and flight technologies, such as inertial measurement units and attitude heading reference solutions.

Related Content

  • July 31, 2018
    Drive.ai self-driving tests with passengers in Frisco, Texas
    Drive.ai is using self-driving vans to carry passengers on a near two-mile route in Frisco, Texas. According to a report by CBS News, the company is the first to launch such a test since an Uber vehicle driving in autonomous mode killed a pedestrian in Arizona. These vans will operate over the next six months, with a safety driver on board, and will travel between an office park and a nearby dining area and entertainment complex. Conway Chen, vice president at Drive.ai, says the service has been desi
  • November 5, 2018
    Ford and Baidu to trial self-driving vehicles in China
    Ford has joined forces with technology company Baidu to test Level 4 self-driving vehicles in China over the next two years. Level 4, established by the SAE International (formerly the US Society of Automotive Engineers), will allow the vehicles to operate without intervention from a human driver. A report by CNBC says Ford’s self-driving vehicles are equipped with Baidu’s autonomous driving system Apollo. The cars are expected to be deployed in on-road tests by the end of 2018. Sherif Marakby, pr
  • November 8, 2018
    PSC Solar to implement EV chargers in Africa
    PSC Solar, the research and development subsidiary of PSC Industries, will deploy electric vehicle (EV) chargers across four African nations, according to media reports. Chargers will be installed in Nigeria, Ghana, Niger and Benin in preparation for the arrival of EVs. Patrick Owelle, CEO of the PSC Solar, says governments all over the world are starting to ban diesel and petrol engines due to climate change and pollution and that Africa must also take a position on the issue. He says PSC’s charg
  • October 16, 2019
    Dyson scraps EV project
    British technology company Dyson has pulled out of a project to build electric vehicles (EVs), saying it is unable to make its car “commercially viable”. Chief executive Sir James Dyson said in a statement: “We have been through a serious process to find a buyer for the project which has, unfortunately, been unsuccessful so far.” The company, known primarily for its vacuum cleaners, says it will continue its £2.5 billion investment programme into new technology in two UK locations and in Singapore. It wil