Month: March 2021

Colombian Cities Ranked Among the Most Congested in the World

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Five Latin American Cities Ranked Among the Most Congested Twenty-Five in the World: Three are Colombian.

March 12th, 2021. Bogota, Bucharest, New York, Moscow and Philadelphia comprise the top 5 most congested cities in the planet and Latin America contributes 5 to the top 25. Three, are Colombian cities: Bogota, Cali and Medellin. Not surprisingly to many, Bogota holds the crown position as the number one, most congested city in the world.

This, according to the recognized INRIX Global Scorecard study, which has just now released its 2020 issue. The impacts of the pandemic have been notorious across the board in a considerable drop in metrics from 2019, but the relative impact is evident. And these Colombian cities are not newcomers to the top positions.

The severity in congestion is a result, a symptom, of the persistent underlying problem which Varon Vehicles has identified as the problem the company is addressing: a Lack of Proper Mobility Infrastructure. “South American cities, like Bogota and Quito, are combating extreme population growth, in geographically constrained environments, with underdeveloped infrastructure”, indicates the study. This underlying problem creates traffic congestion and also other significant symptoms like high pollution levels, inaccessibility and inequality, among others. These, in turn, result in social underdevelopment, restrained economic growth and inhibited progress.

In referring to the symptoms caused in cities, the study explicitly enunciates that “in many cities, the bulk of trip demand is served by the automobile, providing point-to-point travel. Often and at certain periods through the day, demand for car travel exceeds road capacity, leading to externalities like air pollution, injury, property damage, lost time and wasted fuel”. Symptoms of the Lack of Proper Mobility Infrastructure also extend beyond the borders of cities, equally affecting vast regions and communities, with deep repercussions for countries at large.

This is the reason why Varon Vehicles has chosen to implement its Infrastructure Networks in Latin America, starting in Colombia. The needs are greater than anywhere else. By providing one solution to address this underlying problem, the symptoms that can be improved have a much higher potential for beneficial impact.

Varon Vehicles believes in the valuable opportunity to bring forth to Latin American cities the legacy from aviation, which is connection without the need to build anything in between. The company sees Urban Air Mobility in its entirety as a new form of mobility infrastructure. One that has the potential for disruption. A radically new way to alleviate the pressure for city growth and a new instrument to generate value for communities. Harnessing the advantage of not having a cost per mile, Varon Vehicles’ pioneering next generation aviation systems are a radically new, economically viable way to generate connection.

 

Varon Vehicles Announces MoU with Airio to Automate Route Generation

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Varon Vehicles Announces MoU with Airio to Automate Route Generation in its Urban Air Mobility Traffic Management Systems

OAKLAND, California – March 10, 2021

Today, Varon Vehicles and Airio have announced they are jointly collaborating to integrate Airio’s route generating capabilities into Varon Vehicle’s Traffic Management Systems (TMS). The partnership will integrate core components of Airio’s Intelligent Flightpath Navigation System. Varon Vehicles will use these integrated tools in their “Infrastructure Networks”, which are a set of company’s vertiports with virtual lanes over the low altitude city skies connecting them, and fleets of their electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) next generation, “green” aircraft for urban and sub urban use, servicing between them. These next-generation systems will be among the first in the world to advance Urban Air Mobility, providing fast, clean and safe transportation services.

“We’re working to integrate the different components required in our Infrastructure Networks and Airio’s capability to generate smart, automated flightpaths is crucial for safety and scalability”, says Felipe Varon, CEO and Founder. “We need to make our systems scalable and utterly safe. There’s only so much airspace we can occupy, which means we have to rely on highly automated systems for our operation, especially on smart ways to generate optimum routes for each flight, on the go. These capabilities by far exceed those of humans in determining the safest and most efficient routes, with all the dynamic variables involved.”

Varon Vehicles’ eVTOLs need short, efficient flightpaths, that accommodate to the circumstances at the moment each flight is to be made. Airio’s technology will actively generate routes within assigned segregated airspaces, optimized for multiple aircraft, considering factors like active eVTOL traffic, battery duration, wind, rainfall, and even wildlife. Airio’s smart systems will bring all of this information in real-time into each automated flightpath.

“Airio is excited to become a part of the Varon Vehicles ecosystem of companies that are making Urban Air Mobility possible”, says Michael Liquori, CEO of Airio. “Varon Vehicles has really taken a leadership role in this emerging industry, and their vision for safe, smart and modern urban transportation is truly revolutionary. Urban Air Mobility will not only improve the quality of life in cities, but will positively contribute to the way cities grow and prosper.”

Airio’s intelligent Flightpath Navigation System uses sophisticated and proprietary mathematical algorithms to search, evaluate and select unique flightpaths for each vehicle operating in a shared airspace. The system provides critical information to both the on-board operator, as well as the ground-based TMS.

Varon Vehicles Corporation is a disruptive mobility infrastructure company. It is implementing Urban Air Mobility with the new generation of electric aviation (eVTOLs) to provide radically new urban transportation services. Contact Felipe Varon, CEO. www.varonvehicles.com, varon.felipe@varonvehicles.com.

Airio is developing next-generation automation tools to safely navigate low-altitude airspaces for drones, air taxies, and other advanced air mobility systems. Contact Michael Liquori, CEO, www.airio.io, michael@airio.io, +1 (925) 310-556.

 

Varon Vehicles to incorporate Paladin AI’s Next Generation Pilot Training Capabilities for their UAM Aircraft Fleet Operators

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MONTREAL, QC, March 1st 2021, Varon Vehicles and Paladin AI have announced today they have signed an MoU to incorporate Paladin AI’s aircraft pilot training capabilities for their fleets of Urban Air Mobility aircraft operators. Varon Vehicles is developing “Infrastructure Networks” which are company’s vertiports connected via virtual lanes over the low altitude city and suburb skies, and fleets of company operated electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) next generation aircraft for urban use, servicing between them. This is part of the next generation in aviation, necessitating an entirely new form of operators which will not be traditional pilots.

“Our aircraft will be an entirely new breed in aviation. They will be electric, highly automated, made for the urban environment, and our operators will need a completely new form of training”, says Felipe Varon, CEO and Founder. “Our collaboration with Paladin AI guarantees that we set the stage correctly to answer questions about the proper training strategies for these new types of operators. They will have much lighter tasks in the air than traditional pilots. Our operators will surely require less training than in traditional commercial aviation, and the process will be simulator intensive. Paladin AI’s proven record in aviation pilot training insures we plan properly for the training of our eVTOL aircraft operators as we enter implementation in the years to come.”

“Urban air mobility is the next frontier. It will fundamentally change the way we live and how we think about our cities. It is important that we leverage 21st century technologies in our training methods. By the end of this decade, there will tens of thousands of air vehicle operators that will need to be trained.” Says Mikhail Klassen, Chief Technology Officer of Paladin AI. “We’re excited to partner with Varon Vehicles to help accelerate the advent of widespread urban air mobility.”

Paladin AI develops adaptive pilot training software to reduce total instruction time, improve safety outcomes, and drive savings for airlines and training organizations. By using artificial intelligence and operating on the data already being generated by flight simulators, Paladin AI’s software can detect and measure the core competencies that are predictive of proficiency. This allows for personalized training that is tailored to the needs of individual pilots.

 

Varon Vehicles Corporation is a disruptive mobility infrastructure company. It is implementing Urban Air Mobility with the new generation of electric aviation (eVTOLs) to provide radically new urban transportation services. www.varonvehicles.com. Contact Felipe Varon, varon.felipe@varonvehicles.com.

Paladin AI is an educational technology and training analytics company. It is enabling competency-based training in aviation by leveraging the power of data and machine learning. www.paladin.ai. For more information contact info@paladin.ai.