An independent expert jury has selected Airbus for the Innovation Award 2018. The jury concluded that the future of urban air mobility can only be addressed by comprehensive concepts rather than by individual aircraft.
"Traffic jams, environmental pollution and noise emissions are the most important challenges in today's urban mobility. In 2050 approximately 80% of the European population will live in urban areas. This year's AIRTEC focuses on 'Aerospace meets Automotive - Innovation in Mobility' and presents many important concepts for tomorrow's urban mobility. Against this background, the prize awarded this year by the MPC and PRIME Research for the most innovative urban mobility concept at AIRTEC is of particular importance," said Olaf Guennewig (SGS Fresenius) member of the jury.
Airbus, with its on-demand helicopter booking platform, VOOM, is already offering an urban air mobility service in So Paulo and Mexico City and plans to further expand the service in 2019. VOOM will continue to lay the groundwork for the company's longer-term vision of urban mobility using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. The company's work on eVTOL technical demonstrators, Vahana and CityAirbus, as well as on air traffic management solutions, underline the seriousness of Airbus' efforts. Ulrich Nies, Chairman MPC summarizes: "Airbus' investments in urban air mobility in Europe and around the globe show the seriousness with which Airbus seeks solution for our future mobility."
According to Manfred Spaltenberger, member of the board of the German Institute for Inventions and member of the jury, innovations are the basis for prosperity, welfare and an improvement in the quality of life. New thinking and approaches for the global urban environment and the mobility of the future are urgently needed. The concepts and innovations of today's Innovation Award winner Airbus are a building block for this.
During the handover of the award, Joerg Mueller, Head of Programmes and Strategy in Airbus' Urban Air Mobility (UAM) organization, said: "With the rapid advances in electrification, autonomy and connectivity, large scale urban mobility through a new class of air vehicles is becoming a real option. At Airbus, we are building the foundations to make urban air mobility a reality, in close cooperation with regulators, communities and partners."
Bernd Hitzemann, sector lead Automotive Inisghts at PRIME Research adds: "The mobility of the future is electric, connected, shared, and the vertical take-off and landing technology 'VTOL' opens up the third dimension to new concepts and players. Vahana, CityAirbus and the Pop.Up Next concept prove the technology leadership of Airbus in 'urban air mobility' and closely came ahead of the strong start-up competitors 'Lilium' and 'Volocopter'."
The Innovation Award jury consists of experts from the Automotive and Aviation Industry. It is supported by the consulting firm PRIME Research, a Cision company.
