Volocopter inks deal to develop fly-by-light eVTOL air taxi control tech

German electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) developer Volocopter has signed a deal with avionics specialist Diehl Aerospace to create an optical fly-by-light flight control system for its VoloCity air taxis.

The Volocopter-Diehl partnership aims to update the most recent technologies in airplane flight control systems and create a new version for the eVTOL VoloCity air taxi. Central to that is the departure from the lever-operation fly-by-wire approaches used in Airbus planes to a fly-by-light variation in which optic signals will command the vehicle. That will be part of a broader platform also integrating an optical splitter to complement the flight control system, as well as backup computers and components overseeing battery management.

Read: Volocopter’s four-seat eVTOL VoloConnect air taxi completes first flight 

Volocopter said the optical splitter will provide control information to VoloCity eVTOL, and define the operation…