Embraer is stepping up its plans to develop eVTOL aircraft with the formation this week of a new subsidiary called Eve Urban Air Mobility Solutions. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer said the new U.S.-based division is working on “a portfolio of solutions to enable the urban air mobility (UAM) market,” confirming that these include an eVTOL it has been developing in stealth mode for the past four years through its EmbraerX advanced technology unit.
In addition to advancing plans to certify the four-passenger, piloted aircraft, which also now carries the name Eve, the new subsidiary will work on other infrastructure and systems needed to support UAM, including air traffic management software, which is being developed by its Atech subsidiary. The new company will be led by CEO Andre Stein, who was formerly head of strategy for EmbraerX, and it will have bases in both the U.S. and Brazil.
In April 2017, Uber Elevate named Embraer as one of several partners developing eVTOL aircraft for its planned Uber Air air taxi network. Embraer has steadfastly declined to share details of the program until three months ago, when it acknowledged that its engineering team had started to develop the aircraft’s flight control parameters and control laws using a simulator. In that same month, AIN found a U.S. trademark application filed for a product called "Eve by EmbraerX."