Wisk announces first-of-its-kind partnership with NASA to create new framework for autonomous passenger flight
Wisk is teaming up with NASA to focus on the safe integration of autonomous aircraft systems into Urban Air Mobility applications at a national level, which will also include conducting flight demos.
The partnership is the first of its kind and part of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign strategy to develop key guidance for Urban Air Mobility operations, while addressing key challenges. These include certification and standards development, in an effort to accelerate U.S. leadership in emerging automated aviation technology.
Specifically, it will initially address critical National Campaign safety scenarios with a focus on autonomous flight and contingency management, including collision avoidance and flight path management.
Commenting on the news, Gary Gysin, CEO of Wisk, said: “Our partnership with NASA will bring together our market-leading expertise in autonomy with the unmatched technical capabilities of NASA. The frameworks and recommendations developed through this collaboration will not only advance autonomous passenger flight but also increase the overall safety of aviation.”
Through the partnership, NASA and Wisk intend to execute on optimized opportunities to evaluate architectures, perform simulation studies, and develop an overall validation framework that can be leveraged for autonomous flight assessments.
This will be done in close cooperation with industry standards organisations, and may include guidance on airspace structure, flight procedures, minimum performance requirements for participating aircraft, and standards that will influence the evolution of autonomous systems.
Robert Pearce, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, added: “Wisk brings a tremendous amount of experience in eVTOL vehicle development, automation technologies, and flight test, and combines it with a safety-first mindset towards advancing autonomous flight. NASA believes our partnership with Wisk will help accelerate the realisation of exciting new Advanced Air Mobility missions.”
Wisk has been developing and testing its all-electric, self-flying aircraft, Cora, since 2010. It has completed more than 1,400 test flights as part of its effort to create flight-based solutions which address the growing urban mobility crisis in a way that is effective, accessible, and sustainable.
For more information on Wisk, visit wisk.aero.