Category: News

Varon Vehicles Starts Collaboration with ResilienX for Off-Nominal Situation Management

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Syracuse, NY, June 1st 2021, Varon Vehicles and ResilienX have signed an MoU and will be jointly collaborating on the integration of ResilienX’s off-nominal situation management capabilities. ResilienX is the developer of FRAIHMWORK®, an in-time system-wide safety assurance platform and the collaboration is focused on analyzing its potential integration into Varon Vehicle’s Traffic Management Systems (TMS). Varon Vehicles is developing “Infrastructure Networks” which are a number of company’s vertiports in a city and suburb with virtual lanes over the low altitude city skies connecting them, and fleets of their electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) next generation aircraft for urban use, servicing between them. These are a new form of mobility infrastructure that will not require per-mile construction, with which the company will be providing diverse transportation services and where safety is a number one priority.

“Just like with any other aviation system, we have to expect off-nominal situations to present themselves during operation”, says Felipe Varon, CEO and Founder. “The challenge is to correctly anticipate these situations and have the proper planned responses in place to negotiate and mitigate them safely. ResilienX is building a robust and reliable capability for advanced air mobility that can help us reach the level of confidence we need to provide seamless transportation services to our customers.”

“We are thrilled for this partnership” said Ryan Pleskach, CEO of ResilienX. “Varon Vehicles is a global visionary and this push for advanced aerial mobility can deliver disruptive change in the mobility industry. We are excited to bring our experience and capabilities in developing safety critical system of systems to bear on the Varon Vehicles vision. Our work with NASA and the FAA on various UTM/UAM programs, to monitor, assess and mitigate off-nominal situations, has given us a deep understanding of the challenges that these ecosystems face as operational complexity increases and we are looking forward to playing a role in tackling those challenges.”

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.

ResilienX is a software company developing safety assurance solutions for autonomous ecosystems. Founded in 2018 in Syracuse, NY, they are focused on ensuring the safe integration of UAS into existing airspace systems and providing safety solutions to transform mobility around the world. www.resilienx.com. Contact Ryan Pleskach, ryan.pleskach@resilienx.com.

Varon Vehicles Announces the UAM Names Challenge

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May 24th, 2021. Today, Varon Vehicles announces the opening of its Urban Air Mobility Names Challenge, a call for anyone to propose the best new names for key elements of Urban Air Mobility for which names have not yet been widely adopted.

Urban Air Mobility is a nascent industry and it is in need for radical new names that define it, that become universal and that stick in perpetuity. Names generate industrial cohesion, understanding and orient public imagination in the same direction. Our company is expectant about what these new ubiquitous names will be – the next airplane, the next automobile.

The challenge is to propose the best names for generalized and long-lasting use by industry and the public. The UAM Names Challenge is starting with two specific challenges and new ones will be added over time. Challenges have opened for the new name for UAM Aircraft and the new name for their on-board Operators. Anyone can enter now to propose names and vote for favourites. Challenges will remain open with no end date, until a winner is declared. Visit the UAM Names Challenge site to see the rules and selection criteria.

Whenever a winner is declared, either soon or in a long time, winner names will be adopted for use by Varon Vehicles and proposed to their broad industry partners ecosystem, media and stakeholders, for wide and generalized adoption. A historical research will be made to assign credit to the winner. A record will be maintained of the winner name for each specific challenge and the credited person or entity who proposed it. Varon Vehicles will publish the winner and grant a recognition certificate which will be sent by physical mail and it will be announced publicly. Winner names will also be included in Flight Crowd’s Urban Air Mobility Glossary, a growing industry effort to compile key Urban/Advanced Air Mobility terms.

The Varon Vehicles UAM Names Challenge is powered by Flight Crowd. Their wide knowledge of aerospace industry, its history and their multiple educational tools and resources are instrumental in the evaluation of Names for the UAM Names Challenge. They will aid in determining eligibility, pre-selection and background of proposed names. Flight Crowd also contributes to the structuring of the specific challenges.

Visit the UAM Names Challenge Now! Enter directly anytime at www.varonvehicles.com/names-challenge, or visit the company website www.varonvehicles.com and follow the UAM Names Challenge links. Links to the UAM Names Challenge can also be found on company posts on Linkedin. You can also access through the links on Flight Crowd’s website www.flight-crowd.com or through Flight Crowd’s Linkedin page.

Varon Vehicles Joins Forces with Five-Alpha

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Fort Wayne, IN, April 26th 2021. Five-Alpha, a globally recognized firm with ample experience in vertical flight infrastructure design, aviation safety, education, and standards development, has announced today that it is partnering with Varon Vehicles to support the development of their novel Urban Air Mobility (UAM) “Infrastructure Networks”. Varon Vehicles is developing their vertiports and UAM operations to provide transportation services in Latin America, starting with Colombia, and Five-Alpha joins their ecosystem to support the design of their vertiport infrastructure and operations.

Founded on the diligence and tireless efforts of the firm’s principle, Rex Alexander, who’s aviation experience spans some four decades of military, commercial and general aviation, Five-Alpha has come to be recognized as one of the global leaders in infrastructure development and safety for the helicopter and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industries. Five-Alpha’s extensive collaborative engagement with numerous government, regulatory, and industry bodies for the purposes of advancing low altitude infrastructure is unmatched. These efforts include advising and working with organizations such as the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. D.O.T. Transportation Safety Institute (TSI), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), ASTM International, Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Helicopter Association International (HAI), International Helicopter Safety Foundation (IHSF), and the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST).  Given this formidable level of engagement in so many diverse areas, Five-Alpha brings an understanding, expertise and experience level to this partnership, that is unparalleled in the industry.

“I am very excited to be partnering with the Varon Vehicles Corporation and their team,” Says Mr. Alexander. “Their methodology and concept of operations for Urban Air Mobility shows great promise.  I am very much looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish in this space together.”

“We’re leveraging on the legacy of aviation as we produce this new form of air transportation which will be electric and for urban use,” says Felipe Varon, CEO and Founder of Varon Vehicles Corporation. “The expertise of Five-Alpha is tremendous added value for the design of our infrastructure and operations, and we’re really looking forward to this active collaboration as we ideate what needs to be completely new, but also as we integrate the solid and well proven foundations of safe and reliable aviation.”

Varon Vehicles has joined the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM)

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Varon Vehicles has joined the Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium, or CAAM, which brings together important global stakeholders for implementation of the next generation of air mobility in Canada.

Canadian Advanced Air Mobility connects Canada and the rest of the world through the future of flight. CAAM creates a unified national strategy for zero emission advanced air mobility through a regional implementation model. CAAM’s long term goal for 2040 is to have 1 in 5 aircrafts operating in Canada with zero emissions using a triple bottom line approach that considers social, economic, and environmental challenges and opportunities of this new industry.

“As a leader in the Latin American market bringing AAM to reality, CAAM’s partnership with Varon Vehicles continues to expand and showcase the importance of international collaboration with this rapidly developing industry,” says JR Hammond, CAAM’s Executive Director.

“As we strive to implement a radical new form of mobility infrastructure in the Latin American region, we are actively sharing experiences with other ecosystems in different countries around the world, and we’re now proud to join CAAM as they implement Urban Air Mobility in Canada, focused on the mobility needs for their region,” says Felipe Varon, CEO and Founder of Varon Vehicles. “There is much to share and learn from CAAM, who are globally recognized leaders of UAM in Canada. This collaboration will be instrumental in the development of our nascent UAM industry.”

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.