PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Pivotal, the market leader in light electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, today announced it earned the 2024 World Future Award for innovation and market leadership. This recognition celebrates Pivotal’s groundbreaking achievements in the design, development, manufacturing and delivery of the Helix, its feature-rich light eVTOL aircraft.
“Receiving the 2024 World Future Award, with Helix at the forefront of our achievements, is exciting and gratifying,” said Ken Karklin, CEO of Pivotal. “We are proud of our leadership in the emerging eVTOL market and of our major innovations in the design, development, and delivery of light eVTOL aircraft.”
Now available for purchase, the Helix has powerful capabilities guided by intuitive controls through a simple user interface and a joystick. A 270-degree view and quiet operation allow pilots to become immersed in their natural surroundings, fostering a deep connection to the land and the aircraft itself. At the heart of this single-seat vehicle lies a robust fault-tolerant design, bolstered by triple modular redundant systems for safety and reliability.
Pivotal Light eVTOL Aircraft Innovation
Unlike a multicopter or a tilt-wing aircraft with complex tilting rotors or wings, Pivotal’s aircraft are based on a novel architecture, in which the entire vehicle tilts while transitioning between vertical flight and efficient, winged forward flight. This means that Pivotal aircraft offer significantly reduced mechanical complexity, lower weight, and far fewer points of potential failure compared to. all other eVTOL designs. The result is increased reliability and operator safety.
The Helix builds on the foundation laid by Pivotal’s inventive prototype eVTOL, the BlackFly, which was unveiled to the public in 2018. The BlackFly, the first commercially available eVTOL aircraft in the United States, dazzled audiences with its vertical takeoffs, aerial maneuvers, and precise landings.
About Pivotal
Pivotal designs, develops, and manufactures light eVTOL aircraft. As an industry pioneer, Pivotal is renowned for the BlackFly, the first light eVTOL to be commercially available and delivered to buyers in the United States. The company’s distinctive tilt-aircraft architecture and scalable platform have been under continuous improvement for well over a decade, and today, Pivotal has the most mature technology in the light eVTOL category. Efficient, compact, and simple, Pivotal vehicles are designed for a wide range of consumer, public service, and defense applications. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. For videos and more information, visit https://pivotal.aero.
About the World Future Awards
World Future Awards is a global award selecting, recognizing, celebrating, and promoting the best products, software, and services that will transform the global economy and define the landscape of the future. The organization researches inventions across all categories, including technology, beauty, health care, food, home, and entertainment, that are making the world better, smarter, or even a bit more fun.
The World Future Awards categories cover a wide range of disciplines that cover different areas of human life. What they have in common is that they will shape the quality and comfort level of life of the society of the future.
Every year, the award nominees are large companies and small startups that offer game-changing products, services, and innovations according to the most rigorous evaluation criteria. Past winners include the virtual fitness home trainer Mirror, the luxury electric car Lucid Air by Lucid Motors, the self-driving vehicle R2 by Nuro, and the ultra-compact wireless speaker Phantom II by Devialet.
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Heidi Groshelle
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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/343425ca-7cd9-4a65-b1a3-c5cff1951a6e