Lake Forest’s Karem Aircraft Inc., an aerospace development firm that makes manned and unmanned rotorcraft vehicles mainly for the military is spinning off a venture to build an all-electric air taxi vehicle for Uber.
It has $25 million in funding lined up from South Korea’s Hanwha Systems, and last week said that the vehicles from the new venture—thus far unnamed—are being built for Uber for the development of an aerial ride-sharing program that the San Francisco-based company is looking to build.
Karem Aircraft has been working with Uber on a flying taxi service prototype for over a year, according to news reports.
The plan is to make a passenger-friendly adaptation of Karem’s core military-focused technology, one which “will enable aerial ride-sharing customers to dramatically shorten their commutes and avoid traffic in densely populated urban markets.”
The vehicles are called Butterfly, and are expected to be significantly quieter than typical helicopters, which will help gain acceptance in cities, the companies believe.
The electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, as they are referred to, “differ from helicopters in that they are far quieter, safer, more affordable, and more environmentally friendly,” a statement last week said.
“Hanwha’s Series A investment in Karem’s air taxi entity accelerates efforts to bring the Butterfly to market, and we look forward to flying riders in places like Dallas, Los Angeles, and Melbourne in the near future,” said Uber Elevate head Eric Allison.
Hanwa Systems is part of a larger Korean conglomerate that has aerospace and defense business units.
4th Karem Venture
Karem Aircraft’s founders have brought other space-age products to market successfully.
The new venture is the fourth new company started in the U.S. by renowned aircraft designer and serial entrepreneur Abe Karem; the first and second were acquired by General Atomics and Boeing, respectively.
Karem Aircraft was launched in 2004; Abe Karem will split his time between the two businesses, serving as chief designer for both.
The air taxi company’s founding team includes Chief Executive Ben Tigner and Chief Commercial Officer Ryan Doss.
The Dronefather
Karem is widely seen as the “dronefather” of the robotic plane and drone industry; he’s cited as the inventor of the original Predator drone and the A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter.
Karem, who was the former chief designer for the Israeli air force, immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1970s.
Hanwha’s investment is pending regulatory approval, the companies said last week.
“We are thrilled to announce both the investment deal with Hanwha Systems and our creation of a new company to aggressively pursue the air taxi opportunity,” Tigner said.
The new company will leverage “Karem’s optimum speed rotor technology, Hanwha’s industrial scale, and Uber’s ride-sharing network,” he said.
“We look forward to the day when riders will be able to commute to work by flying above the traffic in one of our vehicles.”
