FutureFlight

Happy Takeoff says that it has consulted extensively with state and city leaders about their needs and preferences for new modes of air transportation before designing its Prism eVTOL aircraft. It believes hydrogen power will prove to be more cost-effective than electric power.

Otto Aviation wants to complete type certification and service entry for its six-seat Celera 500L aircraft by the end of 2025. The aircraft features a very unusual design that maximizes laminar flow to reduce drag.

On August 24, Japan's SkyDrive made a first public manned flight with its SD-03 flying car, which it aims to get certified and in service before the end of 2023.

Companies and universities are developing new powertrains for hybrid electric aircraft, including lightweight thermal management and energy storage systems.

UK-based Vertical Aerospace has fast-tracked design of a full-scale prototype that it intends to fly for the first time in 2021, en route to type certification and service entry in 2024.

The Airlander airship is intended for multi-roles including potentially luxury tourism, cargo transportation, and surveillance missions. The largely-composite aircraft has a fabric hull filled with helium and is powered by four diesel engines.

Announcing financial results for the second quarter of 2020, EHang disclosed to analysts that it plans to introduce a longer-range member of its Autonomous Aerial Vehicle family. However, it declined to explain how the increase in range will be achieved and whether its propulsion technology will differ from that employed by its current 216 AAV eVTOL aircraft.

NDB is claiming a breakthrough with a 40 percent charge rate for its nanodiamond batteries and says that a commercially viable prototype could be ready for applications including aviation by the end of 2023.

Proposed new legislation that would ban the U.S. government from buying and using Chinese drones does not specify what weight limits might apply. Depending on how the law would be implemented, it could prove to be an obstacle to China-based eVTOL developers like EHang.

Several private companies, including most recently China's EHang, are supporting the Ambular group to develop concepts for autonomous eVTOLs that can be used for a variety of emergency medical operations.