Making predictions and rankings in almost any aspect of human endeavor is not necessarily an assured path to winning friends, but it certainly can be a way to influence people. As the maddeningly unpredictable year of 2020 drew to a close, SMG Consulting demonstrated the fortitude to attempt both with the unveiling of its Advanced Air Mobility Reality Index (ARI) and its Top Five Predictions list for the industry in 2021.
The ARI is a rating tool that Arizona-based SMG is using to assess the prospects of the companies trying to certify aircraft and bring them to market in large numbers. The consulting firm uses a proprietary formula to evaluate publicly available information about the new programs, considering five key elements: the funding a company has, the caliber of its leadership team, the technological readiness of each vehicle, progress achieved towards type certification, and readiness to begin full-scale production.
From this, SMG comes up with an ARI index. It launched the index with a ranking of 14 companies. The top-rated one, China’s EHang, has a score of 7.9, while at the other end of the scale there is Germany’s Lilium with 5.5. See for yourself whether you agree with the full breakdown, which will be periodically reassessed.
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