Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Urban Air Mobility

Europe tests the future of urban air mobility in AMU-LED programme

Air taxis, cargo delivery drones or unmanned systems for emergencies is an ever-approaching reality. Urban air mobility (UAM) will help us create more sustainable and smarter cities. This new reality being on the horizon, has led to AMU-LED which is an H2020 project of the European Union whose main purpose is to demonstrate the safe integration of different types of drone operations in our city´s skies.

It is an ambitious initiative, which will be built up over two years, with the ultimate goal of showcasing one of the largest demonstration of mobility services with air vehicles in urban environments by 2022. Several venues have been chosen in three different countries: Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Cranfield in the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

In total, the project involves 17 different entities from Europe and the United States. Coordinated by everis, the consortium is made up of a group of very prominent agents within the sector: Airbus, AirHub, Altitude Angel, ANRA Technologies, Boeing Research & Technology-Europe, FADA-CATEC, Cranfield University, EHang, ENAIRE, Gemeente Amsterdam, INECO, ITG, Jeppesen, NLR, Space53 and Tecnalia.

More than 100 flight hours in urban areas

The exercises planned within AMU-LED include more than 100 flight hours combining different unmanned aerial systems and considering various scenarios, use cases and applications. These will consist of air taxi operations, cargo transport, delivery of goods and medical equipment, inspection of infrastructures, police surveillance, and emergency services support.

Through real tests and simulations, the project will explore and demonstrate how to decongest roads, improve transportation of people and goods, reduce travel times, increase flexibility, cut pollution, and reduce traffic accidents.

Thanks to the data obtained from the different tests, AMU-LED will be able to provide invaluable information to regulatory authorities such as the EASA. Ultimately the goal is to help develop and establish laws and regulations in the urban air mobility field.

A commitment to the evolution of air traffic management

AMU-LED is an H2020 project of the European Union framed in the SESAR Joint Undertaking (grant agreement No 101017702). SESAR aims to ensure air traffic management modernisation in Europe, where urban air mobility (UAM) is a key element. It requires creating new concepts and regulations to design, structure, and industrialise a sustainable and interoperable system within current air traffic.

The comprehensive and multi-disciplinary team of professionals at AMU-LED includes experts in air traffic solutions, simulation and drone operations, research technology centres, legislators and experts in tests and demonstrators.

(source: press release)

Wiebe de Jager

Wiebe de Jager is the founder of Dronewatch (available in Dutch and English). Wiebe is an experienced drone pilot (EASA Specific category certified) and has published a number of bestselling books about drone photography and cinematography.

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