Altaport to Offer Automation Platform for Flying Taxis

Auto Tech Outlook | Monday, January 30, 2023

The new platform automates the operations of heliports, airports, and vertiports.

FREMONT, CA: Altaport's platform is currently utilized in multiple major heliports in Brazil, playing a vital part in the creation of the AAM landing network of the future. "We are thrilled to see existing ground infrastructure managers use our platform," says Altaport co-founder Robert Carroll. Altaport has developed the world's first vertiport automation system (VAS) in preparation for the imminent deployment of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, popularly known as "flying taxis," to facilitate the future of travel by automating ground infrastructure operations.

"Adopting Altaport's technology will enable landing locations to prepare for the transition to electric and hybrid-electric aviation effectively," adds Carroll.

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On behalf of ground infrastructure managers, the Altaport platform oversees a variety of tasks, including resource management and scheduling, ground movement safety monitoring, passenger management, and fee collecting. With Altaport, infrastructure managers can increase landing facility efficiency, revenue optimization, and safety while lowering staff strain.

Altaport was formed under the Philo Ventures startup studio by former Airbus and Google personnel who recognized the need to prepare the current ground infrastructure for the future of high-volume eVTOL and freight drone traffic. "The industry is severely unprepared for the demand to come," says Cory Cozzens, Altaport co-founder and Philo Ventures founding partner. "We're only a couple of years away from the introduction of eVTOLs, but most landing infrastructure managers are still using archaic toolsets to manage their operations."

NASA, McKinley, Morgan Stanley, and others project that the advanced air mobility (AAM) market will expand to $9 trillion by 2050, with a single vertiport delivering over 100 autonomous flights per hour in cooperation with a network of up to 300 vertiports inside a single metropolitan region. According to NASA's July 2021 paper titled "Vertiport Automation Software Architecture and Requirements," a strong, interoperable vertiport operating and communications system is essential for controlling the magnitude of future interactions between vertiports and operators.

Altaport's platform mirrors and expands upon NASA's VAS whitepaper. "We've spent more than a decade building and launching operations that are highly reflective of what future AAM operations will look like, giving us unique insight into the challenges and opportunities that such operations present," states Cozzens. "The Altaport team has combined the learnings from those experiences with the technical standards established by the industry to date to build the leading vertiport automation platform. When the first eVTOLs begin commercial operations, Altaport will be prepared to serve landing locations around the world."

The agreements allow the Altaport team to collect crucial real-time feedback in an environment highly equivalent to the future AAM operations network while assisting heliports in streamlining their operations. "Altaport's VAS platform will play a critical role in establishing and growing a safe and efficient eVTOL ecosystem," says Grant Fisk, co-founder of Volatus Infrastructure. "We believe their VAS is a key piece in the Volatus vertiport package, which is why we partnered with Altaport early on. We particularly appreciate how their work with heliports today is going to directly translate to and benefit the eVTOL world."

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