Video / Short
Is Electric Aviation the Future of Flying?
Pete Cooper explains why he thinks electric aviation has reached a turning point and where AI fits in. He also invites people working in the field to come on the podcast as guests.
Video summary
Pete Cooper draws on his background as an airline pilot, flight instructor and engineer on 747s to look at electric aviation, pointing to personal eVTOLs like the Jetson and air taxis like Joby. His reason for why now is cost. He says batteries are reaching around 400 watt-hours per kilogram, a figure he credits to Elon Musk, which makes electric flight economically viable as fuel costs drop.
He expects electric aircraft to lead to autonomous aircraft, as electric cars led to autonomous vehicles, and says that would make getting around town much easier. He sees the Hawkeye product his team developed for cycling applying to aviation too, and asks people working in electric aviation to contact him about joining the podcast.
Video transcript
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What is AI in electric aviation? Well, I'd like to find out, too. We've been working in AI for the last 10 years, and prior to that, I had a background as an airline pilot. I was a flight instructor. I worked in engineering on 747s, and we've done some recent work with Boeing on fault detection. But, what we're really interested in is what the industry's doing. It's so exciting right now. Electric aviation is taking off, whether it be personal eVTOLs like the Jetson, taxi eVTOLs like Joby, or what Heart is doing with the airlines, or what Diamond has done with GE. It's transforming the industry.
Fuel has been such a big cost, and now that cost is dropping dramatically as we move to electrification. Why now? Because we're hitting these magic numbers of battery performance, 400 W hours per kilogram, as stated by Elon Musk many years ago. We're hitting that right now, and that means it's becoming economically viable. Now, a lot of companies are seeing this coming in. They're investing heavily in this. We're very excited about it, too, because we've developed our Hawkeye product in the cycling industry. We see application here in aviation. But, why am I talking to you? I'm looking for podcast guests who want to come on and talk about electric aviation and how AI is transforming it.
Why do I think it's so critical for electric aviation? Well, electric aviation creates new forms of transportation. Just like electric cars have created these autonomous vehicles, we're going to see electric aviation create autonomous aircraft as well. Once that happens, the cost metrics become so much less. What does that mean for the average person? Well, it means we're going to be able to get around town a little easier, or a lot easier. I mean, that dream I had as a child of being able to have a Jetson electric car, a Jetson vehicle, or Jetson vehicle flying me to work, that's coming. It's coming in my lifetime, and it's right here. And AI is part of that.
Electrification, batteries, these technologies are are There's a wave coming, very exciting. I want to know what's happening at the cutting edge. If you want to come on to our podcast and help us bring this to life, then please contact me. Follow me. Drop a comment. Find me on LinkedIn or any of our other social media, and I would love to have you on as a guest, and we're going to talk about AI in electric aviation. Thanks.