First-response times could be almost cut in half with the use of eVTOL aircraft, according to Jump Aero, which is focusing its efforts to bring an aircraft to market entirely on the emergency medical service (EMS) market. According to the California-based start-up, the average response time for an ambulance in the U.S. is currently seven minutes and 42 seconds and it believes its eVTOL will be able to cut this to four minutes.
Jump Aero was formed in January 2020 by Carl Dietrich, who was previously a founder of flying-car pioneer Terrafugia, which he sold to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The company is convinced that EMS operations have more immediate potential to become commercially viable than the urban air taxi services being more visibly promoted by Uber and various rival eVTOL developers. Jump Aero already faces potential competition from KittyHawk’s Heaviside design and Jaunt Air Mobility’s Jambulance.
