New Delhi: At the recently held Bharat Drone Shakti 2023 at Air Force Station, Hindon in Ghaziabad, Amber Wings- an entity of The e-Plane Company unveiled Atva – the latest compact hybrid VTOL ((Vertical Take-off and Landing) drone that aims to redefine aerial cargo transport, mapping, and surveillance with its eVTOL technology.
With Atva, Amber Wings plans to cater to mid-mile and last-mile cargo transport markets and is mission ready for a range of delivery and surveillance applications.
According to Satya Chakravarthy, Founder of The ePlane Company, Amber Wings‘ aim is to offer safe, sustainable, and efficient aerial imaging and logistics solutions. It evolved with a vision to redefine aerial cargo transport, mapping & surveillance through unmatched eVTOL technology.
Incubated at IIT Madras, ePlane focuses on passenger commute services. Collaborations with healthcare and eCommerce sectors are on the horizon. As The ePlane Company continues its mission to build India’s first 2-seater flying electric taxi for daily passenger commute, Amber Wings has developed Atva (formerly recognised as the ePlane e6). This is a Hybrid VTOL and fixed-wing drone with versatile capabilities.
Chakravarthy said that the 50 kg payload variant has been successfully test-flown early in 2023. On the VTOL, the team has planned consecutive flight trials for the upcoming week, he added. Amber Wings shall continue to scale the cargo VTOL product lines, capable of ferrying up to 50 and 100 kgs, respectively as it is focused on developing UAVs (VTOL drones) as logistics and aerial imaging solutions.
Bridging the mid-mile & last-mile cargo transport market segments, Amber Wings is looking at selling its UAV fleet to optimise cargo transport and aerial camera-based applications (surveillance & mapping) for businesses, he said. Elaborating further, Satya Chakravarthy added that ePlane aims to fulfil the last-mile passenger commute needs and shall operate as a flying taxi service, directly accessible by the masses.
The e-Plane Founder said, “We are looking at collaborating with healthcare entities for transport of medical supplies, telehealth devices and the like – going forward, it could also be eCommerce deliveries & in terms of surveillance, it would be the oil and alternate energy entities, forestry, real-estate and so on (so, at the moment, it is B2B for both, surveillance and deliveries) – where the businesses involved become our customers, but as we progress, the end consumer will be the general public – the recipients of the deliveries (through the logistics companies in case of cargo transport).”
To meet the diverse consumer needs for multi-industry cargo applications, Amber Wings is developing higher payload-carrying variants, he said.
