Air taxi maker guest speaker at ITS NZ Conference

Self-piloted flying taxi maker Zephyr Airworks’ chief executive Fred Reid is a headline speaker at ITS New Zealand’s T-Tech conference in Auckland on March 19 and 20.

Cora Aero is the name for the air taxi Zephyr plans to commercialise in New Zealand in a world first.

Reid will discuss the technology and the company’s plans.

Related to this is the newly announced intention by air navigation services provider Airways New Zealand to develop a nationwide unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) traffic management system, known as UTM.

This follows confirmation from Zephyr it will develop and test its Cora air taxi with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) ability in Canterbury.

Trent Fulcher of Airways NZ will speak at the same conference in the Pullman Auckland.

The UAV project aims to manage unmanned vehicles and drone activity across New Zealand airspace as well as integrate these vehicles safely into the national air traffic network.

“There is no doubt that technology is evolving, and Airways’ role is to enable safe and flexible access to our airspace to allow these new industries to thrive,” Airways chief executive Graeme Sumner says.

“New Zealand’s regulatory environment and relatively uncongested airspace make us an attractive option for new operators. We are looking for ways to safely support more complex operations and facilitate new entrants, including the Zephyr Airworks’ autonomous aircraft, into our skies.”

An AirMap drone traffic management platform is being trialled in Canterbury and Queenstown to allow drone pilots to plan their flights, seek authorisations and get information about the areas they’re operating in.

Airways then plans to develop tracking tools allowing UAVs to be accurately monitored once they are beyond the pilot’s line of sight, and to provide detect and avoidance capability to keep them safely separated from other aircraft.

Airways also intends to test the capabilty of New Zealand’s telecommunications network to track the likes of Zephyr Airworks’ autonomous vehicle Cora and UAVs in uncontrolled airspace and enable better telemetry for drone pilots.

Sumner says Airways is “thrilled to be at the forefront of this ground breaking trial with Zephyr Airworks”.