Salt Lake firm enters venture to advance move to urban air taxi
A Salt Lake City company has announced a joint venture that it says will advance its move to provide on-demand urban air taxis.
Skyworks Global Inc. said flying taxis “are no longer in the realm of science fiction” and that its venture with Switch Mobility will leads to “door-to-door, customized transportation.”
Skyworks, which was known as Groen Aeronautics Corp. until April of this year, has been developing vehicles based on gyronautics to create a sustained autorotative flight platform. The company contends that its gyroplane is safe, simple and sustainable technology, with various aircraft having been flown since 2002. In contrast, it says that helicopters are expensive and rely on mechanically complex systems.
Switch Mobility provides a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) application that integrates real-time, micro-transit ride generation capability into a transit platform for consumers. The Switch app functions as an automated mobility operator, seamlessly integrating legs of a trip together to deliver a customized, optimized, complete end-to-end mobility solution right to a user’s smartphone, Skyworks said.
The app will launch in a yet-to-be-announced U.S. city early next year and can seamlessly integrate autonomous vehicles for use in supporting public and private transport operations, it said.
“At a time when city planners are working on integrating varied services such as Lyft and Uber to mitigate first-, middle- and last-mile challenges, a fully flexible mobile service such as Switch coupled with Skyworks’ safe, simple, and highly affordable aviation platform can provide consumers with a single, convenient end-to-end mobility solution,” said John E. Michel, a retired Air Force general and transportation futurist who is managing director of Switch Mobility, sits on the Skyworks board and is chairman of DemandTrans, whose demand-responsive transportation technologies (DRT) are currently deployed across several major U.S. cities.
“This is an incredibly exciting time to be in the urban mobility industry. For the first time in history, technology has enabled the development of fully integrated, customizable MaaS platforms, which provides travelers with a simple means to assess and access the full range of available urban mobility services anytime, anywhere.”
Skyworks said it plans to start certification with the Federal Aviation Administration next year for one of its aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). Future enhancements to that urban cab will include a hybrid propulsion system, an advanced composite body, and the option for manned or un-manned flights. Full electrification of future models is planned as well, the company said.