Wisk, ReD Publish White Paper “eVTOL Air Taxis: New Opportunities for Equitable Transport”

eVTOL com­pa­ny, Wisk Aero, and ReD Asso­ciates, a Human­i­ties and Social Sci­ence-based strat­e­gy con­sul­tan­cy, have released a White Paper which explores the Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty (AAM) industry’s poten­tial for pro­vid­ing safe, fast and afford­able mobil­i­ty solu­tions for peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties, reports a press release. 

Many forms of trans­port still face chal­lenges in pro­vid­ing “con­sis­tent, effi­cient, afford­able, and acces­si­ble ser­vices and peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties con­tin­ue to encounter bar­ri­ers to mobil­i­ty,” explains the release. “The rise of Advanced Air Mobil­i­ty and the devel­op­ment of air taxis for pas­sen­ger use presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to address these bar­ri­ers and improve the qual­i­ty of mobil­i­ty expe­ri­ences.”

The report enti­tled “EVTOL Air Taxis: New Oppor­tu­ni­ties for Equi­table Trans­port” inte­grates the most sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges for AAM and pro­vides a call to action to mobil­i­ty providers to place acces­si­bil­i­ty at the cen­tre of the indus­try. 

The White Paper also out­lines the research con­duct­ed by both com­pa­nies along­side the key find­ings. They under­score the need for AAM to rede­fine acces­si­bil­i­ty while accen­tu­at­ing five dis­tinct lev­els:- 

●  Access: Ensur­ing phys­i­cal and infor­ma­tion­al access for peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties in mobil­i­ty spaces and ser­vices.

●  Phys­i­cal Safe­ty: Address­ing con­cerns relat­ed to phys­i­cal injury, expo­sure to ill­ness and dis­com­fort dur­ing trav­el.

● Emo­tion­al Safe­ty: Mit­i­gat­ing the stress and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty expe­ri­enced dur­ing trav­el, includ­ing inva­sive secu­ri­ty checks and inter­ac­tions with fel­low pas­sen­gers.

● Equal Expen­di­ture & Effi­cien­cy: Stream­lin­ing process­es and reduc­ing wait­ing times, ener­gy expen­di­ture and the need for exten­sive sup­port.

● Joy & Inclu­sion: Pro­mot­ing the emo­tion­al and social aspects of trav­el, avoid­ing feel­ings of iso­la­tion and mar­gin­al­i­sa­tion.

Uri Tzarnotzky, Head of Prod­uct Design at Wisk, com­ment­ed, “Tech­nol­o­gy has great­ly improved the lives of indi­vid­u­als with dis­abil­i­ties. How­ev­er, there is still a dis­par­i­ty between advance­ments in tech­nol­o­gy and the trans­porta­tion and mobil­i­ty expe­ri­ences for many, includ­ing those with impair­ment.” 

He con­tin­ued, “By think­ing about acces­si­bil­i­ty from the start, we can realise the full poten­tial of this new form of tech­nol­o­gy and ensure that it serves every­one. Devel­op­ing ways to reduce the fric­tion inher­ent to mul­ti-modal jour­neys for pas­sen­gers liv­ing with dis­abil­i­ties is a pri­or­i­ty at Wisk.” 

Ian Dull, Part­ner at ReD, added, “By deeply under­stand­ing the needs of peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties and address­ing them from the ground up in its air­craft, Wisk is ensur­ing that next gen­er­a­tion urban mobil­i­ty offers tru­ly acces­si­ble expe­ri­ences, not band-aid solu­tions, and push­ing oth­er play­ers in the AAM ecosys­tem to raise the bar.” 

Wisk and ReD under­took a mixed meth­ods study of peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties’ unmet mobil­i­ty needs and chal­lenges around intra-urban and exur­ban trav­el (trav­el to des­ti­na­tions with­in and around cities) in line with future AAM use cas­es. 

Back­ground

ReD Asso­ciates a human­i­ties and social sci­ence-based strat­e­gy con­sul­tan­cy. Since 2005, the com­pa­ny has worked with glob­al com­pa­nies and foun­da­tions, C‑suite and man­age­ment Boards to cre­ate change in cor­po­rate strat­e­gy, growth ini­tia­tives, prod­uct, sales, mar­ket­ing and R&D. 

Based in Copen­hagen Paris, New York and the Bay Area, ReD is ful­ly owned and led by a col­lec­tive of part­ners with decades of expe­ri­ence at the inter­sec­tion of con­sult­ing, human sci­ence and the busi­ness world.

For more infor­ma­tion

https://wisk.aero/

https://www.redassociates.com/

(Images: Wisk Aero)

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