24 April 2022 || 6 min read
Jaunt Air mobility, which a few years ago was one of Uber Elevate’s network partners, has since been growing its own urban air mobility business, is working to develop its aircraft and aerial ridesharing service.
Jaunt has selected L&T technology services, a manufacturing, engineering, and product development and operations firm, to manufacture Jaunt’s ‘Journey’ eVTOL aircraft. L&T is already a massive and highly established firm, whose customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 57 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and other industries.
While being directed by Jaunt Air Mobility’s leadership, L&T will create manufacturing-ready systems for the Jaunt Journey such as its power distribution system, air data management, cockpit display system, flight control system, battery management, electrification, power electronics, structural design, and stress analysis systems. It will also conduct aircraft testing, provide certification assistance, and direct overall manufacturing engineering.
The Jaunt Journey aircraft is especially unique in its design, as it only features a single lift rotor. With its single lift rotor, which features signature slowed-rotation technology, Jaunt asserts that its aircraft will be more stable, more efficient, and safer than other designs, given the rotor’s ability to auto-rotate in case of a motor failure, and the rotor’s ability to provide high amounts of lift in forward flight. The aircraft concept has actually been in development for over 20 years, having once been called the Carter Copter.
As part of the contract with L&T, L&T will open an Engineering and R&D Centre in Québec Province for the electric aircraft manufacturer to provide engineering services for the Jaunt Journey eVTOL.
Said Amit Chadha, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services: “This deal is a milestone for team LTTS in view of the tremendous opportunities opening up in UAM and drone services which are emerging as alternatives to the increasingly congested on-ground mobility in cities. LTTS has a track record of developing high-performance engineering solutions for global Aerospace and Defense for over a decade and has supported critical defense programs in the past. We believe this program will set the benchmark for future UAM projects and our team is excited to build on this important engagement with Jaunt, with the eventual aim to make urban commuting safer, greener, efficient and reliable”.
Martin Peryea, CEO & CTO of Jaunt, commented: “At Jaunt, our vision is to usher in a range of new-age aircraft-driven urban commuting that is fast, safe, and convenient. This new clean, sustainable aircraft will reduce carbon emissions worldwide. Strategically, we are continuing to grow our Tier 1 partnerships and recognize LTTS as a best-fit engineering partner, and together we are confident of pushing the mass-scale commercialization”.
Why it’s important: As Jaunt begins to make movement into developing its own air mobility business, it is gaining traction with investors. This latest partnership with L&T is a sign that Jaunt is now beginning to deploy its capital into establishing its business, making a key choice with L&T in order to ensure manufacturing expertise in the creation its new vehicle. With this partnership, given L&T’s wealth of experience in engineering development, we can expect to see Jaunt begin to move even more consistently toward a manufacture and commercially ready aircraft to fulfill its vision.
Jaunt has also made a significant number of other partnerships with high-visibility eVTOL components developers. See below for more.
Sources // L&T Technology Services, Jaunt Air Mobility
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