Artist rendition of a “non-conventional” platform that could support urban mobility. (Rolls Royce)
The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD Europe) has formed a working group on urban air mobility (UAM) and named Hervé Moran as its head. Moran is the chief of future platforms at the U.K.-based Rolls Royce and was formerly the director of the Institute for Aerospace Technology at the University of Nottingham in England.
The ASD Europe working group on UAM — a group vice-chaired by Airbus — held its first meeting in Brussels on July 2.
Moran said that the industry working group will cover air taxis “but also more broadly air transport in an intra-, peri-, and inter-urban context.”
At Rolls Royce, Moran aims to bolster the company’s future capabilities by developing partnerships with universities, national laboratories and consulting firms and leading a Future Platforms Team to explore “disruptive concepts” across Technology Readiness Levels 1-7. Such work includes conceptual, detailed design, and prototyping for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles.
“Europe should lead the global race to digitize civil aviation and civil aeronautics,” according to a report last December from the European Parliament’s Sky and Space Intergroup. “Emerging technologies such as augmented/virtual reality and automation based on robust strategies for cyber protection will drastically change civil aviation in the upcoming years. New mobility concepts including flying taxis, drones, single pilot aircraft, high altitude platforms and unmanned rotorcraft as well as new digital air and unmanned traffic management systems will change both the traditional aviation sector as well as open up opportunities for new urban air mobility concepts. Collaboration at European level through Joint Technology Initiatives such as Clean Sky and SESAR is also essential in this context.”
Eric Trappier, CEO of Dassault Aviation, serves as the president of ASD Europe, which aims to develop and promote European aeronautics, space, and defense industries.
Want more eVTOL and air taxi news? Sign up for our brand new e-letter, “The Skyport,” where every other week you’ll find the most important analysis and insider scoops from the urban air mobility world.