Los Angeles, USA / Bruchsal, DE, 15 September 2021 – Today, Volocopter, the pioneer of urban air mobility (UAM), announced that it has partnered with Los Angeles-based Urban Movement Labs (UML) to explore the application of Volocopter’s UAM solutions in the Los Angeles area. As part of Volocopter’s US market campaign, the company will also be present at CoMotion LA from 16-18 November 2021 for the public to learn more about this new mode of urban transportation.
UAM is a subcategory of advanced air mobility (AAM) that focuses on how advanced aircraft operate in and around cities. Today, Volocopter is developing its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to provide commercial transportation services for passengers and goods – 100% electric and emission-free in flight. Furthermore, this mobility service will be positioned to support existing transport options, introduce new local employment opportunities, and provide point-to-point connections at costs similar to current taxi fares.
Volocopter’s family of aircraft for UAM services include the VoloCity air taxi for short intracity passenger routes, the VoloDrone for heavy-lift goods transport, and the VoloConnect for longer passenger routes between suburban communities and downtown. The company is also developing physical and digital infrastructures (VoloPort and VoloIQ) to complement this robust, multipurpose aircraft portfolio and create scalable urban air mobility ecosystems in cities. Volocopter will launch its UAM services in the next 2-3 years after achieving final certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Concurrent certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will allow Volocopter to bring its services to the US shortly after. The cooperation with LA’s UML will facilitate this market entry.
The partnership between Volocopter and Urban Movement Labs will provide lessons to inform a policy framework that envisions UAM as a safe, sustainable, and equitable multi-modal transportation component in Los Angeles. UML is leading this work as a part of the Urban Aerial Mobility Partnership announced in December 2020.
As the only eVTOL industrial player to hold two strategic EASA certification approvals to design and produce aircraft in-house, Volocopter brings leadership in certification, ten years of experience, and over 1,000 test flights to the table. The company most recently demonstrated its progress at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where Volocopter conducted the first public flight of a crewed eVTOL in the US.
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About Urban Movement Labs
Urban Movement Labs is a first-of-its-kind mobility-innovation organization that links government, businesses, and community members to modern technology solutions to help solve transportation challenges in the City of Los Angeles. With the support of Los Angeles’ Mayor’s Office, Urban Movement Labs aims to make Los Angeles the model city for safe, sustainable, equitable, and efficient movement of people and goods and replicate these learnings around the world.
For more details, please visit: https://www.urbanmovementlabs.com / Twitter: @UrbanMvmtLab
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Jorge Canez
About Volocopter
Volocopter is building the world’s first sustainable and scalable urban air mobility business to bring affordable air taxi services to megacities worldwide. With the VoloCity, the company is developing the first fully electric “eVTOL” aircraft in certification to transport passengers safely and quietly within cities. Volocopter leads and cooperates with partners in infrastructure, operations, and air traffic management to build the ecosystem necessary to ‘Bring Urban Air Mobility to Life’.
In 2011, Volocopter performed the first-ever crewed flight of a purely electric multicopter and has since showcased numerous public flights with its full-scale aircraft. The most notable have been the public test flights at Singapore’s Marina Bay in October 2019 and the world’s first autonomous eVTOL flight in Dubai 2017. Volocopter is also developing products for the logistics space with their heavy-lift cargo variant, the VoloDrone.
Founded in 2011 by Stephan Wolf and Alexander Zosel, Volocopter has 400 employees in offices in Bruchsal, Munich, and Singapore. The company has raised a total of €322 million in equity. Volocopter‘s investors include Daimler, Geely, DB Schenker, BlackRock, and Intel Capital amongst others.
Find out more at: www.volocopter.com
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Helena Treeck
