According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will approach a Japanese start-up business to help build a global “wind map” that can improve the flying safety of global drones and air taxis.
In an interview, Junichi Furumoto, CEO of Japanese start-up MetroWeather Co., stated that the company could create compact, low-cost lidar sensors.
These sensors can be used to detect meteorological hazards like wind shear, allowing unmanned aerial vehicles to operate safely in urban areas. MetroWeather Co. is based in Kyoto, Japan, and collaborates with TruWeather Solutions in the United States, which is also a small NASA company innovation research licensing program participant.
Self-driving drones and flying automobiles have long been the stuff of science fiction, but they’re slowly making their way into reality. The quadcopter’s four propellers have benefited aerial photography, inspection, and mapping.
Amazon, Alphabet, and UPS, the world’s largest express delivery company, are collaborating to create autonomous drone applications in logistics; in addition, many start-ups are investigating the viability of electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles for manned transportation.
All parties, however, are still concerned about the safety of these aircraft.
As NASA advances in developing the so-called “urban air mobility maturity level-4,” the market for drones and air taxis is expected to explode in about 2025. L4 urban air travel is a rating system that permits autonomous driving technology to integrate with more advanced technologies at a higher level.
According to NASA’s predictions, the L4 urban air travel system will see hundreds of planes take off simultaneously from airports across the city, with different planes exchanging information to avoid crashes.
According to industry experts, the market value of drones and air taxi services could reach billions of dollars in the future. According to some analysts, drones and air taxi services are ideal for infrastructure inspection and delivery of urgent high-priced commodities in the medical industry.
