The future of mobility is looking up
If you follow this space, you know that at Boom we’re hard at work ushering in a new era of supersonic flight. Airspeeder is tackling the transportation future from another angle with the world’s first racing series for crewed flying electric cars.
Boom Supersonic’s Chief Technology Officer Brian Durrence joined Airspeeder Founder Matt Pearson on a Future of Mobility panel hosted by IWC Schauffhausen during Watches and Wonders in March. Afterward, we teamed up with Airspeeder for a Twitter chat to expand upon the topic and discuss what both companies are doing to reimagine what transportation will look like in the near future.
Talk about “the future of mobility.” What does that mean and how is it different from how we get around today?
Brian: We believe that travel is a net good for humanity and that the engineering work we’re doing today will have a direct impact on our ability to connect people across cultures tomorrow. Think of an overseas vacation. Today, you’re talking about essentially a full day’s travel to get to your destination and again to get back home. So, how many people are opting to travel domestically instead? Now imagine if a trip to Europe or East Asia takes as long as a cross-country flight. That suddenly opens up possibilities for a lot more people and makes our world a little bit smaller.
Airspeeder: From an engineering perspective, we’re operating in the most exciting time in history. We are rapidly transitioning to new energy sources and in doing so challenging long-established notions of how we drive, fly, service, and even own vehicles. With UAM [Urban Air Mobility], we are on the cusp of a revolution that will liberate our cities from congestion and fundamentally change the way that we live. It’s exciting to contribute to giving people such vital time back with a solution that is so much more in tune with our collective global requirement to transition to clean-air forms of transport.
What sort of data do engineers look at during test flights to help inform their future decisions?
Brian: A lot of the data we look at will have to do with efficiency. Obviously, we want the aircraft to run as lean as possible to optimize performance, sustainability, and cost, so we’ll be looking at the best balance of those factors.
Airspeeder: Our engineering team at Alauda Aeronautics follows all vehicle parameters from the ground using a telemetry system. The focus is on monitoring our batteries, electric motors, and controllers but also vehicle flight dynamics—i.e. position, speed, and acceleration—in 3D space. Data has graphic representations and alert levels to trigger decisions regarding normal/abnormal vehicle behavior. We then send feedback to the vehicle test Engineer and pilot with data/actions. After testing, we analyze recorded telemetry data to capture performance details.
How different is the process of building an entirely new aircraft versus iterating on a previous design?
Brian: We want people to travel more without worrying about adverse effects on the planet. So, we’ve challenged our team to design Overture to be an environmentally responsible supersonic aircraft. We’re designing Overture to operate net-zero carbon flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Our approach to sustainability extends from how we design and test our aircraft to how we operate and maintain our manufacturing facilities. Boom is guided by 3 principles—speed, safety, and sustainability. We can’t achieve our mission without delivering on all 3.
Airspeeder: It is very different in all aspects, mainly schedule and performance. When you design a new vehicle from a blank sheet of paper, respecting the regulations, you have a full “freedom” with a major target: performance. You can develop innovative solutions without so many constraints. But the process is long (months and years!) and very expensive. When you iterate a new design, you are more constrained by existing parts. The first issue: where does modification end? Do I change the full wing or only a spar? If I change the wing, do I also have to change the fuselage? The second issue is then modifying all flying machines to match that iteration, by throwing away previous design solutions and parts, manufacturing new parts, and retrofitting the fleet. It is faster and cheaper but sacrifices performance.
Watch the full IWC Signature Talk here.
