Urban Aeronautics, the Israel-based aerospace company behind CityHawk, the advanced, compact eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) with a distinct, wingless exterior and patented fully-enclosed Fancraft™ rotor system, announced a new partnership with Universal Avionics, an Elbit Systems company and a leading manufacturer of innovative commercial avionics systems. The innovative partnership will feature Universal Avionics’ ClearVision™ Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) solution together with the Aperture™ Advanced Video Management Device on the CityHawk air taxi and EMS vehicles. This combination will enhance aircraft safety through sensor fusion and augmented reality. Universal’s technology is an important safety feature for urban flight, especially during takeoff and landing in crowded and confined spaces.

This technology partnership provides an unprecedented level of agility for CityHawk’s EMS and commercial travel use cases, offering improved weather and traffic handling, heightened night vision, and enhanced landing and ground movement by assisting the CityHawk in adeptly navigating city infrastructures. For more information on the CityHawk’s wingless exterior, low noise level, and city-friendly size, visit the Urban Aeronautics site.

Universal Avionics will provide a wearable headset for pilots, a sensor package, a sensor fusion and augmented reality platform that, together, will provide a new level of situational awareness and improved decision making for the pilot of a CityHawk.

“Our mission at Universal Avionics is to shape the future of aviation by creating commercial avionics solutions that enhance safety and efficiency, and to deliver an outstanding customer experience. We are thrilled to bring our best-in-class technology to the urban air mobility space,” said Universal Avionics CEO Dror Yahav. “We know eVTOLs are the future, and we’re happy to have a partner that is both innovative and advanced with this unique technology.”

“This partnership is particularly exciting in that it offers the CityHawk and our pilots improved visibility and agility for every ride, whether it be transferring passengers from an office building downtown to an apartment building downtown or evacuating a patient to a hospital,” said Urban Aeronautics CEO Nimrod Golan-Yanay. “As a pilot for over 25 years, I know firsthand how powerful this technology is, and what a valuable step this partnership is in making urban air mobility a safe and enjoyable reality for both pilots and passengers.”

This partnership announcement comes as Urban Aeronautics prepares to close its Series A funding round and in the wake of recent partnerships with other leading names in eVTOL and aerospace technology. This includes Urban Aeronautics’ research partnership with London-based Skyports to explore requirements for eVTOL infrastructure in the Middle East region, and another partnership between Urban Aeronautics and California-based Hypoint to adapt hydrogen-fuel-cell technology for aviation.