Aircraft Makers Look To Carmakers For Inspiration

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A persistent dream of aviation buyers is for airplanes to be as innovative as modern cars, with quality to match. With electric airplanes on the horizon and eVTOL aircraft a thing, that’s exactly what’s happening, according to Aviation Week’s MRO network.

Increasingly, aircraft companies are finding inspiration and product ideas in cutting-edge automotive technologies. Both Boeing and Airbus have paired with automotive vendors to help design components and systems. Boeing is getting help from seating specialist Adient, Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, while Airbus has paired with German automaker Audi.

The emerging urban mobility market is seen as having automotive-type volume, even though no such aircraft are nearing certification or market entry yet. “Independent studies of the UAM market suggest there will be the need for a significant number of these aircraft, meaning they will need to be produced at volumes more akin to those in the automotive sector,” a spokesman for Lilium told the publication. Lilium is one of many startup companies designing aircraft for the urban mobility market. Although these aircraft are expected to be electric, there’s been a notable shift toward hybrid designs because battery energy density is still too limited for practical range and endurance.

Airbus worked with Audi last summer to develop ground transportation for its on-demand helicopter booking platform called Voom. That service may be a precursor to a wider system of on-demand eVTOL aircraft that are expected to eventually be autonomous air taxis. Airbus introduced its CityAirbus eVTOL in March in Ingolstadt, Germany, Audi’s home base.

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