Honeywell and Volocopter have signed an agreement to jointly test and develop new navigation and automatic landing systems for Velocopter’s vertical takeoff and landing aircraft as the emerging era of urban air mobility moves closer to delivering a new breed of cleaner, safer and smarter air vehicles.
This agreement launches Honeywell’s extensive autonomous sensing and flight technologies, including inertial measurement units, attitude heading reference solutions and potentially other urban air mobility (UAM) innovations, into this rapidly developing transportation market.
These solutions feature and build on technologies developed under Europe’s Clean Sky 2 and Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) 2020 industry and government collaboration programs. Honeywell and Volocopter aim to prove and mature existing technologies by testing and evolving various sensor-based navigation systems for use in fully-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. These tests will help the two companies create new technologies for urban air mobility.
Urban air mobility comprises personal air vehicles, such as flying taxis, with on-demand availability and will provide faster and more efficient movement of people within cities to improve safety and decrease traffic. These passenger services will eventually include the use of autonomous vehicles.
