Florida “Takes Further Steps to Prepare for AAM”

The Flori­da Leg­is­la­ture has recent­ly passed Sen­ate Bill 1662, show­ing the state’s com­mit­ment to shap­ing a future where Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) plays an impor­tant role in con­nect­ing peo­ple and com­mu­ni­ties around the state. The Bill awaits the state’s 46th gov­er­nor, Repub­li­can Ron DeSan­tis, to sign it.

DeSan­tis is a keen advo­cate for the eVTOL indus­try and wants Flori­da to become a U.S leader. The state has mild weath­er; many wealthy cit­i­zens; a robust avi­a­tion infra­struc­ture net­work; and a num­ber of eVTOL oper­a­tors and man­u­fac­tur­ing star­tups that have begun devel­op­ment.  

Flori­da Gov­er­nor Ron DeSan­tis

Amongst oth­er trans­porta­tion-relat­ed issues, the bill:- 

: Defines key AAM terms in Flori­da Statutes.

: Des­ig­nates an AAM expert with­in the Flori­da Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion to assist local gov­ern­ments in their plan­ning efforts.

: Incor­po­rates AAM and ver­ti­ports into the statewide avi­a­tion sys­tem plan.

: Stream­lines ver­ti­port approvals.

: Pri­ori­tis­es grants for emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies and avi­a­tion work­force train­ing pro­grams at air­ports.

: Sup­ports avi­a­tion work­force devel­op­ment and trans­porta­tion-relat­ed research and devel­op­ment efforts.

Back in April 2023 DeSan­tis along­side Flori­da Sec­re­tary of Com­merce, Lau­ra DiBel­la and Flori­da Sec­re­tary of State Cord Byrd, met with Karl Kim, Pres­i­dent of Hyundai Motor Group, and Hosung Song, Pres­i­dent and CEO of Kia Cor­po­ra­tion to dis­cuss the pos­si­bil­i­ties for eVTOLs fly­ing around Flori­da, while pro­mot­ing green ener­gy.

Karl Kim, Pres­i­dent of the South Kore­an based, Hyundai Motor Group, com­ment­ed at the time, “We under­stand Flori­da is open to emerg­ing trans­porta­tion tech­nolo­gies and we look for­ward to explor­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to work with the state as we deliv­er our vision for the future of mobil­i­ty.”

Pre­vi­ous­ly, DeSan­tis had signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing with a South Kore­an com­pa­ny to facil­i­tate hydro­gen tech­nol­o­gy in Flori­da, with the goal of installing “car­bon cap­ture util­i­sa­tions and direct air cap­ture in space” indus­tri­al com­plex­es in Cen­tral Flori­da. 

Trade between Flori­da and South Korea exceeds USD1.3 bil­lion annu­al­ly, mak­ing it Florida’s 7th largest bilat­er­al trade part­ner in Asia and the Mid­dle East region. South Korea import­ed more than USD341.6 mil­lion from Flori­da in 2022, while Flori­da rec­i­p­ro­cal­ly import­ed more than USD951 mil­lion in goods.

Anoth­er eVTOL pio­neer, Eve Air Mobil­i­ty, has long seen Flori­da as a nat­ur­al ear­ly adopter of AAM and has been work­ing along­side the Flori­da Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (FDOT) to pre­pare the state. 

On the FDOT web­site, there is wide-rang­ing infor­ma­tion about the state’s emerg­ing eVTOL indus­try. Eve’s work includes a Con­cept of Oper­a­tions (CONOPS) study for Mia­mi Dade Coun­ty, exam­in­ing how eVTOLs could inte­grate with the city’s infra­struc­ture and dai­ly life.

https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/aviation/aam/fdot_aam_fact_sheet_final.pdf?sfvrsn=e5d346d9_5

Mean­while, Eve’s full-scale pro­to­type eVTOL air­craft is present­ly advanc­ing its devel­op­ment with the “Push­er Motor and Wind Tun­nel” phase tri­als.

For more infor­ma­tion

https://www.fdot.gov

(Top image: Eve air Mobil­i­ty)

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