79Aston Martin
Volante Vision
Three-passenger, hybrid-
electric, fully autonomous
eVTOL. Developed in
cooperation with Cranfield
Aerospace Solutions and
Rolls-Royce aviation.
Expected performance:
Boston to New York City
in one hour.Airbus (A 3 Vahana)
Alpha One
Single-passenger, self-
piloted eVTOL. Eight
60-hp 45-kW motors
on forward- and rear-
tilt wings. One-third of
vehicle mass is batteries.
Ballistic parachute rated to
work even at low altitude.
Demonstrator vehicle
expected by 2020.Boeing (Aurora)
PAV eVTOL
Two-passenger, fully
autonomous eVTOL.
Designed for urban flights
of up to 50 miles. First test
flight was on January 22,
2019, in Manassas, Virginia.
Possible forerunner to
future Uber Air vehicle.LICENSED TO THRILL
007 will love Aston Martin’s “sports
car in the sky” (above). The rest of
us may soon enjoy aerial ridesharing
in eVTOL machines from Boeing
(left) and Uber Air (below).
Aurora is one of several partners working
on vehicles for Uber’s planned Elevate air-
taxi program. (Uber Elevate did not respond
to interview requests.) Uber hopes to unveil
a commercial air-taxi service by 2023,
projecting that an Uber Air might charge, say,
$90 for a 29-minute ride that would cost $60
and require 69 minutes using a conventional
UberX car service. If design goals can be met,
Uber’s eVTOL vehicle will function much like
a smaller version of the U.S. military’s V-22
Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Twin blades at each
end of a wing will lift the vehicle vertically like
a helicopter, then rotate forward to propel
the craft horizontally like a plane at speeds
of up to 200 mph. In a 2018 interview with
CBS News, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
said initial flights will be piloted but would
eventually be fully automated. Apparently,
that means post-trip driver ratings and tips
will go the way of the dodo, too.
Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, under
its new EmbraerX division, is also working on
an eVTOL machine that could be employed by
Uber Air. “Two cities are slated for the launch
of proof-of-concept VTOL ecosystems: Dallas
and Los Angeles,” says business development
director David Rottblatt. “Upon validation of
the ecosystem, in 2020, more cities will be
added to the launch list, based on criteria
that will enable deployment of an eVTOL
ecosystem in each community.”