It is not the first concept of operations (ConOps) to address plans for advanced air mobility services using eVTOL aircraft, but the document published by new partners Wisk Aero and Skyports appears to be the first to directly address fully autonomous operations produced for engagement with international stakeholders. In China, EHang evidently has had extensive engagement with the country’s regulators over its extensive plans for commercial aircraft with its EH216 and VT-30 families of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles.
The 32-page paper is not a pitch for Wisk’s business model, which remains something of a mystery to most outside observers, but rather a template for how groundbreaking autonomous eVTOL flights could get underway. It envisages a heady mix of autonomous aircraft operating alongside existing drones and also fleets of piloted eVTOL vehicles, based on assumptions mapped out in existing NASA maturity levels for the new technology.
