Referring to all the studies made on what will be the mobility of the future, a large part of the population has reservations about accepting these new machines over their heads. What could be more normal if we imagine a sky full of small helicopters and drones, each one having a disordered trajectory!
Let's put our first beliefs aside and allow ourselves a few moments to step back and better understand how all this is going to be organized while trying not to use too many acronyms as indigestible as each other.
The new air vehicles
Why new? Simply because they are electric! These new technologies have opened doors to create machines (eVTOL - "electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing") that offer a multitude of new options for moving people and goods. Some of these devices look like airplanes, others like helicopters, and some are outright drones that have grown to impressive sizes.
The Jaunt Journey combines the advantages of a plane and a helicopter. Its strength is that it can hover like an airplane while taking of like an helicopter. Thus, in case of failure, there will be many alternative solutions before losing control, more than in the planes you use today to go on vacation. This is what makes it one of the safest machines, if not "THE" machine to fly-over populated areas. Technologically, its development is not a challenge because the aircraft already exists and has been flying for over 400 hours. What remains to be done is the refinement of the final model and mass production planning (obviously apart from the certification of the aircraft itself and its components).
The noise associated with this new technology
And the noise, you might say! If you don't look up to see them in the sky, you simply won't know they are there. Unlike drones that fly a few dozen feet above your head, these vehicles will take precise routes at heights well above the roof of buildings.
Thanks to new electric propulsion technologies, an aircraft like the Jaunt Journey produces a noise ranging from a moderate rain to the noise level of standard automobile traffic when it takes off. It's like hearing a car on take-off if you're standing next to it, and a gentle breeze when it's in the air! Even your robot sweeper makes more noise than the Jaunt Journey. The first prototypes are very promising, and we look forward to showing you this soon on videos or later at the VOLARIA air event.
Airline regulations
You should know that everything that flies in our skies is certified according to extremely rigorous rules, supervised in Canada by Transport Canada. The Jaunt Journey uses existing certifications made for airplanes and helicopters, unlike all other prototypes that will have to wait for new certification rules that, for some, are not even under consideration yet. This is where Jaunt Air Mobility makes sense for VERTIKO Mobility. The missing part for everyone today is the electric propulsion certification. But we can be reassured because Solar Impulse and its soon to be certified H55 spin-off have flown many hours without incident and are paving the way for electric certification even here in Canada.
Credit : Solar Impulse Foundation
Since no one wants a swarm overhead, the flights of these machines will be organized and regulated. Rules are being created that will control their trajectory. Authorities such as Nav Canada and Transport Canada are there to accompany the companies that create tomorrow's mobility to ensure traffic safety in urban and regional areas according to the high standards we have known here for years. It is in the same logic that we observe in the sky of Montreal, or any other city in Quebec or even in the world, airplanes flying in a line in the same approach corridor.
What will this new network be used for?
We hear a lot about air cab. But did you know that this infrastructure will also be used to save lives? Ambulance vehicles to move injured people, transport of essential goods in case of disaster, transport of blood, human organs, laboratory tests and so many other uses for the good of our society!
However, the real profitability of such a network is based on the transport of people. This will certainly involve aircraft moving over urban areas that will momentarily obstruct the blue or starry sky. But when you think about it in the long term, isn't this situation better than a semi-permanent smog?
Finally, having concerns about a new product is perfectly normal and even allows for essential questioning for the development and implementation of safe products.
With this in mind, we invite you to share your concerns and questions with us
so that we can have the opportunity to give you food for thought and, if necessary,
to question ourselves.
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