In the future, taxi rides will be faster, and up in the sky.
What if instead of hailing a cab and battling through morning traffic, you could simply step out your door into a flying taxi and zip across town? That is the future of Advanced Air Mobility.
Taylor Alberstadt, who leads Global Sales & Account Management at Honeywell, says, "Advanced Air Mobility is a collection of new and emerging technologies that we're going to apply to the aviation transportation system." Getting more specific about your flying commute, he explains, "We're talking about autonomous flying drones which will have the ability to transport goods and people between cities and within cities."
The benefits of this technology are far reaching, including lower noise pollution, higher safety, lower cost and greener operations, says Alberstadt. And it all stems from the same principle of finding more sustainable forms of propulsion.
In this interview, we speak with Advanced Air Mobility systems supplier Honeywell to learn how they are working toward a world where commute times are cut in half and same-day package delivery is available anywhere. Watch this video to hear all about the future of Advanced Air Mobility and the incredible innovations scientists are developing right now to make autonomous air travel an everyday part of our lives.
Learn more about how Honeywell technology is transforming the way we travel, here: https://entm.ag/AAM
What if instead of hailing a cab and battling through morning traffic, you could simply step out your door into a flying taxi and zip across town? That is the future of Advanced Air Mobility.
Taylor Alberstadt, who leads Global Sales & Account Management at Honeywell, says, "Advanced Air Mobility is a collection of new and emerging technologies that we're going to apply to the aviation transportation system." Getting more specific about your flying commute, he explains, "We're talking about autonomous flying drones which will have the ability to transport goods and people between cities and within cities."
The benefits of this technology are far reaching, including lower noise pollution, higher safety, lower cost and greener operations, says Alberstadt. And it all stems from the same principle of finding more sustainable forms of propulsion.
In this interview, we speak with Advanced Air Mobility systems supplier Honeywell to learn how they are working toward a world where commute times are cut in half and same-day package delivery is available anywhere. Watch this video to hear all about the future of Advanced Air Mobility and the incredible innovations scientists are developing right now to make autonomous air travel an everyday part of our lives.
Learn more about how Honeywell technology is transforming the way we travel, here: https://entm.ag/AAM
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:04 Are you ready to never sit in traffic again?
00:08 Because instead you can just hop in a flying air taxi and zip across town.
00:13 It is real, it is coming, it is just the beginning of advanced air mobility.
00:19 And that is changing the way that we are using the skies and
00:22 making flying a whole lot more energy efficient too.
00:25 Taylor Albrecht of Honeywell told me more.
00:28 Taylor, when I hear the phrase advanced air mobility, I start to think real
00:33 futuristic stuff, I'm picturing me zipping around like the Jetsons.
00:36 But what are we actually talking about when we talk about advanced air mobility?
00:41 >> Yeah, Jason, that's a great place to start,
00:43 just to think about definitionally what is advanced air mobility.
00:48 And if we go to the FAA, they have a pretty good definition there.
00:51 And they say advanced air mobility is a rapidly emerging new sector
00:56 of the aerospace industry, which aims to safely and
00:59 efficiently integrate highly automated aircraft into the national airspace.
01:04 So advanced air mobility is not a single technology, but it's a collection of new
01:08 and emerging technologies that we're going to apply to the aviation
01:12 transportation system with new and retrofits to existing aircraft.
01:16 >> So what does that look like?
01:17 What kind of new technologies are we talking about here?
01:20 >> So here we're talking about autonomous drones, and
01:22 typically those are associated with moving goods or monitoring or inspection or
01:28 surveillance.
01:29 You're talking about UAM, which is urban air mobility.
01:34 And as you mentioned, this is where we're talking about air taxis for people.
01:39 So in between cities, so it's intercity, but it's also intracity.
01:45 And the way we think about that here at Honeywell is we have a vision where you
01:49 could take a 100 mile journey door to door in 45 minutes or less.
01:54 >> That's really fascinating.
01:55 So really what you're talking about here are new ways of moving around through
01:59 the air with things that we don't currently have like air taxis,
02:02 basically the Jetsons.
02:04 And then also changing the existing air transportation structures that we have
02:11 with new kinds of planes or at least changes to the ways that our planes
02:15 are currently designed.
02:16 And what are the benefits of all these?
02:19 >> So these benefits really come from a major driver,
02:23 which is more sustainable forms of propulsion.
02:26 So the four benefits are lower noise, higher safety,
02:34 lower cost, and greener operations.
02:36 >> Taylor, as you're describing these technologies,
02:39 I'm thinking some of this stuff sounds familiar for right now.
02:43 For example, drone deliveries exist, although regulations often mean that
02:49 I can't get my packages dropped by a drone to my door, but maybe that'll change.
02:53 And then you're also talking about things like air taxis,
02:56 aka the Jetsons zipping around town.
02:58 And then also airplanes with no pilots, that sounds very futuristic.
03:02 So what kind of timeline are we talking about here and
03:05 what of these technologies actually exist right now?
03:08 >> It's really interesting when we start to break down what autonomy looks like.
03:14 And I would give you an example that I think we can all relate to,
03:18 is at home you have a washing machine, right?
03:22 And we're going to try to differentiate automation from autonomy.
03:26 You put your clothes in the washing machine, you add some detergent,
03:30 you select a cycle, you press go, right?
03:32 The washing machine does some magic, your clothes come out clean,
03:36 the same every time, that's perfect automation.
03:39 But think about a washing machine where we add sensors to it.
03:43 It knows what color your clothes are and how dirty they are, right?
03:47 It decides how much soap it needs to add, what cycle it needs to run, right?
03:51 There would be elements of autonomy in there, but
03:53 which one of those sensors or decisions really changes?
03:57 I think that's a hard line to draw.
03:59 So we're not talking about a flip the switch to say we go from a full pilot to
04:03 full autonomy.
04:04 We're really talking about moving particular functions and
04:08 decision making from a pilot to the aircraft.
04:12 And at what point you wanna say that's now autonomous,
04:15 I don't think is necessarily relevant.
04:17 We have the ability to offload a lot of human functions to the aircraft today,
04:22 but that won't be done entirely until we can guarantee that an aircraft operating
04:28 itself with an overseer instead of a pilot is going to guarantee to be safer.
04:33 >> What are the challenges that need to be overcome to really
04:37 maximize that sustainability in advanced air mobility?
04:41 >> There are many challenges and
04:42 opportunities here for increasing that sustainability you mentioned.
04:46 I would say going forward, batteries will continue to improve.
04:51 Whether that be with existing or new chemistries,
04:54 I think we're familiar with lithium ion batteries, right?
04:57 There's other ways of building batteries that have pros and cons.
05:01 And we want to maximize energy density and power density to find that
05:05 right combination of battery for the advanced air mobility market.
05:09 As of today, that's one of the challenges because the advanced air mobility space
05:15 is really today just repurposing battery cells that have been created for automobiles.
05:20 And as the advanced air mobility market continues to mature,
05:24 I expect that battery technology, even if it's not solely created for
05:28 aerospace applications, at least that'll be a consideration in development.
05:33 So I think that's one of the hurdles today of making sure we have the right
05:37 product for this market.
05:39 >> Well, that feels like a perfect tee off for the thing that I always want to know
05:43 about when talking about new technologies,
05:46 which is what are the opportunities available for entrepreneurs?
05:50 Is this a space where there is a lot of entrepreneurial activity and
05:53 opportunity to take part in developing the future of air travel?
05:58 >> There absolutely is, right?
06:00 When you talk about creating a new market, right?
06:03 And in this case, we're talking about a new market for transportation, for
06:07 movement of people and goods.
06:09 There are many different places ripe for entrepreneurs to come into the space.
06:13 With the caveat that this is a highly regulated space, right?
06:17 So working with the authorities and understanding regulations and
06:21 how the FAA or its counterparts like EASA put into place the requirements for
06:27 building a vehicle and operating a vehicle.
06:30 But if we think about that entire value chain, right?
06:33 It starts with the suppliers.
06:35 And as I mentioned, these are new and improvements of existing technologies.
06:40 And that's really right for that entrepreneurial spirit of how do you take
06:44 something we have today and make it smaller, make it lighter,
06:47 make it do more functions, right?
06:49 So there's huge technology advances that are coming out of the supply chain to
06:53 really put state of the art technology on these vehicles.
06:57 >> Well, Taylor, this has been fascinating.
06:58 And here we are talking about advanced air mobility from two totally different
07:02 locations.
07:03 But maybe next time, I can just hop in my Jetson style car and
07:06 zip over to you, which would be so exciting.
07:08 What are some final things that people should be thinking about as they look into
07:13 the future of advanced air mobility?
07:15 >> Yeah, Jason, this has been great.
07:17 I would just end with the thought that even in the last few years,
07:21 we've made leaps and bounds in this advanced air mobility space.
07:25 We've really passed the point of will this happen?
07:29 So it's now not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
07:33 This is a space that I see growing exponentially after entry into service.
07:37 And it's going to be created in an equitable way that allows more people
07:41 to benefit from it.
07:43 So this is an exciting time.
07:44 It's an amazing time to be a part of this space, to be in aerospace,
07:48 to be able to materially and positively impact people's lives in such a personal
07:53 way.
07:53 [MUSIC]