HAX and Airbus Want to Help You Build Your Flying Car Company
New accelerator program seeks entrepreneurs who dream of flying machines
HAX, the hardware startup investor and accelerator, along with Airbus, is looking for start-ups to join a four-month accelerator program aimed to advance developments in urban air mobility, a.k.a. flying cars.
“Transportation in megacities needs fresh ideas to improve the way we live,” said Mathias Thomsen, urban air mobility general manager at Airbus, in a press statement. “We believe that adding the vertical dimension to urban mobility will improve the current congested megacity transport systems.”
The accelerator is looking for startups developing technologies in:
• Urban air transport vehicle technology
• Aerial sense and avoid technology
• Airport runway and landing detection systems
• Emergency safety technology for airborne vehicles
• Infrastructure for airborne transport vehicles
• Autonomous airborne vehicle technology
• Aerial maneuver decision making and support systems
• Air traffic management systems
• Aerial collision detection and avoidance systems
• Battery packaging and management systems for airborne vehicles
The selected startups will receive at least $100,000 in seed money, and spend four months in Shenzhen, China, turning their ideas into prototype with help from HAX and Airbus engineers. Applications can be submitted here. As many as 10 companies will be selected.
Updated 29 September 2017
Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 40 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.