Wisk promises autonomous Advanced Air Mobility

Wisk promises autonomous Advanced Air Mobility

By Scott Simmie

 

If you’ve been following our posts, you’ll know that InDro Robotics was part of a Canadian trade delegation that visited California last week. Some 40 organisations took part – including private companies, airports, academics, Transport Canada, NAV Canada and the National Research Council Canada. The trip was organised by Canadian Advanced Air Mobility (CAAM), the organization that speaks with a unified voice on behalf of industry and others with a vested stake in the coming world of AAM.

California was chosen because it’s home to three of the leading companies in the Advanced Air Mobility space: Joby, Archer and Wisk. It’s also home to the NASA Ames Research Center – which is working closely with industry on multiple technical issues as the world of AAM approaches. Last week, we shared highlights of our visits at Joby and Archer with this post (which we’d encourage you to read for context).

Today’s post? It’s all about Wisk, the final air taxi company the delegation visited. And its vision?

“Creating a future for air travel that elevates people, communities, and aviation.”

Unlike Joby and Archer – which plan to launch with piloted aircraft – Wisk differentiates itself with its “autonomous-first strategy.” That means, once it has attained all the necessary FAA certifications, the first passengers will climb on board an aircraft that flies itself. An autonomous aircraft carrying human beings? That’s a really big deal.

“When we’re successful at certifying this aircraft, that has the potential to change so much more beyond Wisk,” explained Becky Tanner, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. In fact, she believes it will have an impact on the broader aviation industry, encouraging it to “take a step forward.”

Wisk is currently flying its sixth-generation full-sized aircraft. Its first generation was autonomous, but the following two were piloted.

“We made the conscious choice from Generation 3 to Gen 4 to stick with autonomous aircraft,” says Chief Technical Officer Jim Tighe. He points to the Generation 6 (which they call “Gen6”) on the floor.

“There will never be a pilot in that aircraft,” he says.

Below: Wisk’s Gen6 – the latest iteration of its autonomous air taxi designed to carry four passengers

 

 

Wisk Gen6 Autonomous Air Taxi

THE DESIGN

 

Like Joby and Archer, Wisk’s basic design is a fixed-wing eVTOL that uses tilt-rotors on booms attached below the wing. Two motors are on each of those six booms. The forward motors have tiltable five-blade rotors that allow them to transition for more efficient forward flight. These motors are in use throughout the flight – takeoff, landing, hover, forward flight – and any other manoeuvres. The rear motors are used for the VTOL portions of flight but are turned off once Gen6 has transitioned to forward flight.

Gen6, as you perhaps guessed, is the sixth full-size aircraft that Wisk has designed and built. And, like Generations 1, 4 and 5 it’s fully autonomous. That feature eliminates the possibility of pilot error.

“It’s obviously a differentiator,” says Tighe. “But we really believe that autonomy will enable safety. These are challenging operations. Short distance flights, you’re doing a lot of takeoffs and landings and you’re doing it in congested airspace.”

Building a completely autonomous aircraft is difficult. But it’s especially challenging – and rewarding – when you have to invent required components.

“When we first started, most of these systems did not exist – so we had to build them ourselves,” CTO Tighe told the Canadian delegation. That included motors, highly optimised batteries, flight control systems and much more. The company now holds 300+ patents globally and has carried out more than 1750 test flights with full-scale aircraft.

“It’s really important to design systems that meet our challenges for design, safety, weight and performance requirements,” he said, adding “It’s a lot easier if you can work on it yourself.”

Tighe, who dresses and speaks casually, comes with an impeccable background. After his first few years working with Boeing as an Aerodynamics Engineer, he worked as Chief Aerodynamicist for 14 years at Scaled Composites. That was the Burt Rutan company known for an incredible number of innovative aircraft and world aerospace records.

But Scaled’s jewel in the crown came right in the midst of Tighe’s tenure. The company designed and built SpaceShipOne and mothership White Knight. SpaceShipOne was a crewed, reusable suborbital rocket-powered aircraft that was carried to 50,000′ AGL while affixed beneath White Knight. When it was released, SpaceShipOne ignited its rocket engine, which took the small aircraft to the edge of space (100km). By accomplishing this feat twice within two weeks, Scaled Composites won the $10M Ansari X Prize. The technology, which includes a feathered system where the wing of the spacecraft rotates for optimal atmospheric entry, is core to the Virgin Galactic space tourism program. Tighe left Scaled Composites in 2014, moving directly to Wisk – a job he describes as “really fun if you’re an engineer.”

Below: The Gen6, which is capable of carrying four passengers of all shapes and sizes, including passengers with mobility issues

 

 

Wisk Gen6

AUTONOMY

 

Autonomy isn’t just about the technology (though we’ll get to that). It’s also part of a strategic business model in a market sector that will undoubtedly be competitive. Both Joby and Archer will initially have piloted models, meaning one of the four seats will be taken by the pilot. That not only costs more (to pay for the pilot), but also means losing revenue for one passenger on every single flight.

But will passengers embrace flying without a human at the controls? Wisk believes so, and says it puts great emphasis on safety. And here, it has some help: Wisk became a fully-owned subsidiary of Boeing in 2023 (though it operates separately). Some 150 Boeing employees are directly involved with the Wisk operation. That relationship, says the Wisk website, “allows us to tap into Boeing’s development, testing and certification expertise, and more.”

And on the autonomy front? In addition to its own inventions, Gen6 relies heavily on tried and true systems like autopilot. It’s self-flying approach includes, according to its website:

  • “Leveraging the same proven technology that accounts for more than 93% of automated pilot functions on today’s commercial flights (autopilots, precision navigation, flight management systems, etc.)
  • “New, innovative technology such as improved detect and avoid capabilities, sensors, and more
  • “Wisk’s logic-driven, procedural-based, decision-making software which provides reliable, deterministic outcomes.”

What’s more, Wisk already has a highly integrated system that allows human flight supervisors to track missions from the ground and monitor aircraft systems. Those flight supervisors will have the ability to intervene remotely, should that ever be required. It’s anticipated that, initially, one supervisor will be responsible for monitoring three missions simultaneously. Wisk offered a simulated demonstration of this system – which already looks pretty mature.

The location the delegation visited was in Mountain View, CA. This Bay Area campus is responsible for engineering, composite assembly, airframe assembly, motors, its battery lab, autonomy lab and is home to the corporate team. In addition, Wisk has additional locations in the US, Canada (Montréal), Poland, Australia and New Zealand. Its flight tests and R&D are carried out in Hollister, CA. The company currently has about 800 employees (including 50 in Montréal).

 

SUSTAINABLE AND ACCESSIBLE

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One of the many impressive things about Wisk was its emphasis on design. Engineers have worked hard to reduce the number of moving parts in the aircraft – points of failure – to the point where there no single mechanical or software problem could take the aircraft out of the sky. But equally impressive was its commitment to design.

Beyond ensuring everything is comfortable, ergonomic and safe for passengers – a great deal of work has gone into ensuring any Wisk aircraft will be accessible for people of all shapes and sizes and even with disabilities. Wisk has an ongoing program where civilians with physical or sensory limitations are brought into the lab to try out the latest iteration of the cabin and offer feedback for improvement. For example, there’s Braille in the cabin and on the flight safety cards. And, when it was discovered that a guide dog was fearful of the metal steps for climbing up and into the cabin – they redesigned them to be easier on the paws. The guide dog happily climbed aboard the redesigned steps on a subsequent visit.

In conjunction with making the service affordable, this philosophy is something Wisk emphasised during the visit.

“The big vision of this is to have this accessible for everyone,” said CMO Becky Tanner. “Making sure this feels comfortable and enjoyable and safe for all kinds of people – people with disabilities, people with different heights, shapes and sizes.”

Below: InDro’s Scott Simmie (front right) inside Gen6. InDro’s Dr. Eric Saczuk, who was attending on behalf of BCIT’s RPAS Hub (which he directs) is in the seat behind him. Dr. Saczuk is also InDro’s Chief of Flight Operations

 

Scott and Eric on Wisk Gen6

INDRO’S TAKE

 

Before we get into our view of this world, it’s also worth mentioning that the delegation had the privilege of touring the NASA Ames Research Center. We saw, among other things, a high-end simulator purpose-built for testing eVTOL flight in congested urban airspace – as well as top-level research into developing predictive models for turbulence at the coming vertiports – where these vehicles will takeoff and land.

“The worlds of Advanced Air Mobility and Urban Air Mobility are definitely coming. This is truly going to be an inflection point in aviation, and we foresee many positive use-case scenarios beyond air taxis that these technologies will enable,” says InDro Robotics Founder and CEO Philip Reece.

“It was highly instructive to get a front-row seat with these industry leaders, and we thank CAAM for its foresight in planning and executing this important trip. InDro will have some announcements of its own for the AAM space – both for service provision and more – down the road.”

We look forward to these companies gaining their final FAA Certifications – and seeing these aircraft carry passengers and eventually cargo.

InDro joins Canadian Advanced Air Mobility trade mission to San Francisco

InDro joins Canadian Advanced Air Mobility trade mission to San Francisco

By Scott Simmie

 

InDro Robotics is pleased to announce it is part of a delegation heading to the US next week in a trade delegation organised by Canadian Advanced Air Mobility, or CAAM. As Canada’s federal industry association for AAM, CAAM is the nation’s unified voice in the sector, working with industry and regulators to advance the path toward the coming world of Advanced Air Mobility.

You’ve likely heard about AAM by now. But just in case, here’s a quick and high-level refresher: Technology advances of the past decade have led to what are often referred to as transformational aircraft. These run the gamut from large and autonomous cargo drones through to what are commonly called air taxis – electrically powered eVTOL (including standard multi-rotor, fixed-wing VTOL, tilt-rotor and other innovative designs) intended to carry humans and cargo. Nearly all of these aircraft are electrically powered and sustainable, while some involve hybrid designs with fuel-powered generators supplying or topping up electrical power for the motors. You can also throw smaller drones into the mix, as they will be sharing airspace and taking on newer use-case scenarios involving autonomous, Beyond Visual Line of Sight flight in urban settings.

 

VALUE PROP

 

These aircraft will fulfil a number of important use-case scenarios. For example, they will transport people or cargo to areas that currently do not have airports. They will also move goods and humans quickly across large urban areas. Minimal infrastructure is needed for these VTOL aircraft. Rather than an airport, these devices will take off and land from “vertiports” similar to helicopter pads.

People or critical supplies can be transported efficiently and sustainably to places that were previously not an option for traditional aircraft – and where the cost or availability could not justify helicopter flights. They will transport critical medical supplies between hospitals in a fraction of the time ground transport would require. Smaller drones might deliver devices like Automated External Defibrillators, Epipens or life-saving medications in emergencies.

Plus, of course, air taxis will carry people across major urban centres or to nearby satellite regions. Eventually, it’s envisioned you’ll be able to hail one of these machines the same way you call an Uber – and your pickup spot will be a vertiport.

This future isn’t coming immediately, as Federal Aviation Administration Type certifications are still underway. But it most definitely is coming. Several companies – which the CAAM delegation will visit – are leaders in the air taxi space, with fully functional aircraft they plan to put into operation once FAA certification is complete.

As for the FAA? The US regulator is fully onboard with this new era but obviously wants to ensure the integration between traditional aviation and these transformational vehicles is safely achieved. To that end, it has already released a blueprint for how it envisions this mixed air traffic will play out:

THE US LEADERS

 

A number of US companies are at the vanguard of this new era, designing and testing aircraft that are very close to being production models. And CAAM, led by Executive Director JR Hammond, has pulled together a trip that will allow delegates to meet with several of the key players based in San Francisco. The mission will have onsite visits and – pending weather – observe demo flights at the following AAM leaders:

 

WISK

 

This company has built what it describes as the “world’s first self-flying, all-electric, four-seat air taxi.” Its current model, called Generation 6, “is the world’s first all-electric, autonomous, four-seat eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) air taxi designed for passenger transport. Our larger, spacious new aircraft provides more space for passengers and their luggage, and ensures that our service is accessible for those with disabilities.”

The unique design incorporates both eVTOL and a fixed wing for range. Its eight tiltable robots enable vertical take-off and landing. Once in the air, those rotors tilt forward for the transition into more efficient fixed-wing flight. Range is 144 kilometres (90 miles), traveling at speeds up to 120 knots. Generation 6 can recharge in a scant 15 minutes, allowing for rapid turnaround. This is a fully autonomous aircraft with multiple redundant safety features, and with human oversight from the ground. WISK is a fully owned subsidiary of Boeing, and has been in operation since 2010.

Below: The WISK Generation 6

WISK Generation 6

JOBY

 

The CAAM delegation will visit another leader in this space, Joby Aviation. Its six-rotor piloted aircraft is designed to carry four people, and also employs tilt rotors and a fixed wing. It’s also fast – capable of speeds up to 320 km/hour (200 mph). Despite the six large rotors, Joby has put considerable engineering effort into one of the downsides of multi-rotors: Noise.

According to Joby, its aircraft is as “quiet as a conversation.” And they’re not the only ones saying it. The company websites quotes Aviation Week’s Guy Norris as saying: “The aircraft made only a partially perceptible sound that, in this editor’s view, would almost certainly be undetectable against the everyday noise background of an urban environment.” So that’s a big bonus.

Though there will undoubtedly be many useful routes once this aircraft is certified and integrated into US airspace, its website envisions flights such as from a downtown vertiport in New York City to JFK airport. Driving by car, says Joby, takes 49 minutes; flying gets you there in seven minutes.

The company is in the midst of testing and certification with the FAA, and has completed the first three of five stages in that process. Joby has flown more than 50,000 km on its full-scale prototype and Toyota has announced it will be investing US $500M into the company in 2025.

Below: Joby takes flight

ARCHER

 

The third air taxi company on the agenda is Archer. In 2024, the company received its Part 135 Air Carrier & Operator Certificate from the FAA – one of just two air taxi manufacturers globally to have announced receipt of that certificate. Its “Midnight” aircraft is currently undergoing FAA Type certification. The company has delivered an aircraft to the United States Air Force – the first of a potential six in a contract worth up to US $142M. It is planning to begin trials in India shortly, with other venues on tap.

All of these air taxis have interesting designs, but Midnight is particularly intriguing. It has six tilt-rotors forward of its fixed wing, and an additional six fixed rotors aft of that wing. So a total of 12 rotors lift and land Midnight vertically, while the six tilt-rotors make the transition to and provide thrust for forward flight. The tips of the tilt-rotor propellors are flexed backwards to reduce noise.

 

NASA

 

In addition to visiting the three above companies, the CAAM delegation will also spend a day at the NASA AMES Research Center. That visit will include seeing NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator, an Advanced Air Mobility simulation, a live demonstration of an eVTOL AAM vehicle, and plenty of discussion around the implications and challenges of this new phase in global aviation.

In addition to CAAM, there will be 33 companies, regulators and research institutes on the trip. These include Transport Canada, NAV Canada, the National Research Council – as well as such established companies as CAE, Kongsberg Geospatial, and NGC Aerospace.

“This trip represents a tremendous opportunity for Canadian entities in this sector to meet with some of the leaders in the AAM world and see their technologies up close,” says CAAM Executive Director JR Hammond.

“But just as importantly, it gives these leading AAM companies a chance to learn about the incredible Canadian companies that are in or adjacent to this space and explore potential partnerships down the road. We are incredibly excited about this trip.”

Below: The Archer Midnight hits a major milestone in June of 2024, with its first transition flight. It’s a longer video, but a cool one

INDRO’S TAKE

 

The world of Advanced Air Mobility is coming. And InDro is pleased to be taking part in this CAAM-organized event.

InDro has long worked to advance the concept of integrated airspace, carrying out a broad variety of research in concert with Transport Canada and the National Research Council in areas ranging from Detect and Avoid technologies through to testing urban wind tunnels to help with prediction models and future standards for urban RPAS flight. We’ve even tested and mapped the strength of 5G signals at various altitudes in urban environments to ensure robust connections for future autonomous flights over cities and potential UTM systems.

We have concrete plans for deliveries of critical supplies, including deploying heavy-lift and long-range drones – which will be part of the AAM space. And, with our expertise in designing and building autonomous mobile robots, we foresee other opportunities.

“The future of AAM is all about automation, including autonomous flight and an eventual automated Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) system that will ensure safe flights within corridors and minimise any potential for conflict with traditional aviation,” says InDro Founder and CEO Philip Reece.

“As part of that automated future, InDro is currently exploring AMRs that will autonomously assist with tasks like cargo loading and offloading, repositioning aircraft on the ground, and more. We look forward to working with AAM clients to build robust solutions in this space.”

We’d also like to mention that this trade mission was made possible through the CanExport Program by the Government of Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service.

Interested in this sector? Stay tuned; we’lll be sending reports from the field.