At the North American International Auto Show this week, Airspace Experience Technologies, LLC (AirSpaceX) revealed a new style of VTOL aircraft for the crowd: one that is both autonomous and electric-driven.
The subscale model unveiled at the auto show revealed that the MOBi-ONE will be designed to handle both transportation of passengers and cargo, with a range of 60 miles per hours and a speed of 250 mph. It will be capable of harnessing existing EV architecture to power itself.
“MOBi-ONE will offer clean, quiet, and connected on-demand air mobility to the mass traveling public at an affordable price,” Jon Rimanelli, founder and CEO of Detroit Aircraft and AirSpaceX, said. “Our vision is to mass produce aircraft leveraging lean automotive design and mass production techniques so our vehicles are affordable to the mass traveling public.”
Workshopped, prototyped and under development since 2011, the idea that became MOBi-ONE has yet to reach completion of an engineering package. The model on display was taken from clean sheet design, fabrication, and assembly in four weeks but a full-scale aircraft will need to be manufactured and pass Part 27 Certification before AirSpaceX can operate it.
That has not stopped the company’s executives from plotting an ambitious roll-out, however.
“Our goal is to deploy 2,500 aircraft at the nation’s 50 largest cities by 2026, targeting existing infrastructure at first,” JP Yorro, COO at AirSpaceXm said. “The MOBi development program will be capital intensive, but air Mobility as a Service could generate billions for the economy. We are considering a broad array of financing options, including potential fractional ownership interest and profit sharing models.”
The company is looking to fill a mobility gap and has pointed to the billions of dollars lost for travelers stuck in traffic jams each year. Taking it to the skies, they believe, could be the solution, and it would be ill-thought out to call them dreamers. The Detroit Aircraft Company, their parent company, has built more than 70 small electric VTOL aircraft since 2013.