At Wisk, our electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis fly themselves. Even though there’s no pilot on board, we must still avoid other aircraft and adhere to separation requirements. This includes maintaining a safe distance between the aircraft and other air traffic, terrain, obstacles, and other potential conflicts.
We are able to meet this requirement through a robust, four-part deconfliction process, including route design and strategic flight plan deconfliction before flight, and air traffic control separation and onboard sensors providing Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) capability during flight.
- Route Design: Route design deconfliction takes place well before any flights are ever booked or cleared for takeoff. As part of this initial step, we design routes away from areas of high congestion with the aim of reducing potential encounters in the air.
- Flight Plan: The flight plan deconfliction process involves the approval and clearance of each individual flight. This helps to anticipate and avoid other air traffic and potential conflicts prior to the flight taking off.
- ATC: The third layer of deconfliction involves coordination with air traffic control during flight in alignment with Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). By leveraging ATC services available today, we are able to avoid potential conflicts and maintain separation requirements.
- Sensors: Sensors and systems onboard the aircraft fulfill traditional See-and-Avoid pilot responsibilities. In the event that the aircraft detects a conflict, it will take deterministic, automated actions to avoid the hazard.
Working together, each part of our deconfliction process helps to ensure that we keep the aircraft separated from other air traffic, obstacles, and potential in-air conflicts. This ensures that our passengers can arrive at their destination safely and on schedule.
To learn more about how autonomous flight will work—including an in-depth look at our aircraft’s various safety systems and protocols—read our Concept of Operations for Uncrewed Urban Air Mobility, jointly developed with Boeing.
