How Traffic Management Collaboration and Data Sharing Could Unlock Autonomous Flight

Air traffic navigation service provider Skyway is partnering with other specialists like weather data group TruWeather to offer an open support system for uncrewed and piloted aircraft.

EHang has modelled air traffic management scenarios for eVTOL aircraft. — Commercial operations of eVTOL aircraft in urban environments, like those envisaged in this rendering by Chinese manufacturer EHang, will require new approaches to air traffic management to support safe autonomous flights. (Image: EHang)

By Charles Alcock • Managing Editor

February 15, 2022

For air traffic navigation provider Skyway, sharing is caring when it comes to building the infrastructure needed to support the anticipated high-volume scale-up in operations by uncrewed air systems (UAS) and other autonomous aircraft that could eventually include eVTOL air taxi services. By sharing, the company mainly has data in mind but also the pooling of expertise, as evidenced by its recently announced partnership with TruWeather Solutions to include that firm's weather data and risk-management product as part of its traffic navigation system.

According to California-based Skyway, collaboration is the key to laying the foundations for autonomous flights. “It’s all about data aggregation and how we connect this data,” explained CEO Clifford Cruz. “We don’t want to have ecosystems developing in silos to build something that everyone can use. This means a lot of close connections with partners to enable UTMs [unmanned traffic management providers] to support the business much more quickly.”

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