I think autonomy is not a technology problem. On the cargo drones, it's also I think you need to be cost efficient. You don't want to have highly sophisticated pilots flying these drones because then you don't get into a useful business case. That's the challenge. And I haven't seen a lot of drone concepts yet that are there yet. But we will fly in Saudi Arabia at NEM in May doing test flights with the Voila drone version 2. We continue to work with DB Shankar. It will be optimized along the criteria that I just described. So you will see that we will have an acceleration drone still being prototyped this year which will be much more competitive
Urban air modality is coming to life a lot faster than we may expect, and joining us today is the CEO of Volocopter, Dirk Hoke, to discuss their new Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle service launching in 2024. Tuning in, you’ll hear all about how Dirk joined Volocopter, the different aviation authorization bodies and why they’re important, the aviation safety regulations in testing new aircraft, mistakes companies are making, and the global regulators’ reaction to new technology. Dirk talks us through how Volocopter is designed, why it is designed the way it is, and how it will change urban air modality over the next decade. You’ll also hear about the hurdles they are facing, their hopes for their launch, and the cost of these models. Autonomy is not a technological issue but is rather an issue of certification and public support and in this episode, Dirk highlights the importance of recognizing that air taxi travel is going to happen much sooner than we think. Tune in now to hear about this exciting innovation.
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest, Dirk Hoke.
- What led Dirk to join Volocopter.
- Dirk explains the importance of the aviation authorization bodies, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Aviation Aviation Assessment (IASA).
- Why you can only have a serious problem in civil airspace after one billion operational hours.
- How to ensure safety when creating an aircraft.
- What makes this such a rigorous process and the mistakes he sees other companies making.
- How global regulators have reacted to the huge wave of new technology being created.
- Why air traffic management needs to go through the next step of digital transformation.
- Dirk tells us why Volocopter is designed the way it is.
- Dirk explains how this model will change flying in the next decade.
- The price structure dynamics in this industry.
- What discussions are being had about increasing landing sites.
- How congestion is changing and why we need new modalities without waiting for new roads.
- How and why the business model for making aircrafts has changed.
- Why Dirk wants President McCall to launch the product at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- The hurdles Volocopter is facing as they journey to commercial launch.
- Why one design cannot cope with all the requirements of all the different markets.
- Why autonomy isn’t a technological issue but rather an acceptance and certification problem.
- Why humans will be used in the loop of automated air travel for quite a while.
- The importance of understanding that air taxis will fly sooner than we think they will.
