Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 15

The Need for Autonomous Flight
Most companies working in the AAM
industry today plan to launch their initial
aircraft with pilots, and eventually
move to vehicles that are autonomous
- capable of uncrewed flight. This path
has several advantages, including a
faster initial type certification and
therefore a faster time-to-market, and
likely faster customer acceptance. The
disadvantage to starting with a piloted
air taxi is that the vehicle will eventually
require redesign and then recertification
without a pilot. AAM operators
will also have to make fundamental
changes to the way they operate the
new vehicles.
Autonomy is a crucial factor in
ensuring the eventual profitability of
the AAM sector as it will allow the AAM
Aerospace & Defense Technology, October 2024
sector to scale to hundreds or thousands
of vehicles per city, without
needing to add hundreds or thousands
of pilots as well.
Training to become a licensed commercial
pilot can cost $100,000 and
require 1,500 flight hours, yet the business
plan for most AAM operators is to
offer AAM flights for the same cost per
passenger mile as an Uber Black. Imagine
what would happen to the cost of
an Uber ride if all their drivers required
the same investment in training as
commercial pilots. It would not be a
sustainable business model. The same
is true for air taxis.
While most AAM companies have
decided to go to market with a human
pilot present in the vehicle first, and
then transition to autonomous operamobilityengineeringtech.com
tions
later, not all companies are taking
this approach. Wisk has decided to make
its aircraft autonomous from the very
beginning, operating uncrewed flights
monitored by remote supervisors. This is
a longer path to initial operating capability,
but will not require costly redesign
and recertification.
Time will tell which strategy will lead
to better results, but in either case,
autonomy is intertwined with the future
of the AAM industry.
Optimizing Range
The expected range of the initial set of
AAM vehicles is about 100 miles. This is
a function of existing battery technology,
which most companies are planning
to use to power their aircraft. There is
only so much power that can be packed
15

https://mobilityengineeringtech.com

Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024

Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Intro
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Sponsor
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 1
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 2
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 4
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 5
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 6
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 7
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 8
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 9
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 10
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 11
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 12
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 13
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 14
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 15
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 16
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 17
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 18
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 19
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 20
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 21
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 22
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 23
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 24
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 25
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 26
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 27
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 28
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 29
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 30
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 31
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 33
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 34
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 35
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 36
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 37
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 38
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 39
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - 40
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover3
Aerospace & Defense Technology - October 2024 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22ADT02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21ADT02
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