The GoAero prize contest was launched in February with the goal of spurring “a breakthrough solution to build the world’s first compact, autonomy-enabled rescue aircraft that is safe and simple to fly.” GoAero will award more than $2 million to the winners of the competition, and Honeywell Aerospace is the latest company to join the more than 30 sponsors of the prize.

GoAero CEO and founder Gwen Lighter launched the nonprofit “on a singular mission to save lives.” An experience where her father had to get rushed to the hospital due to chest pain brought home the issue of delays getting to the hospital. While following the ambulance to the hospital, roads clogged with traffic delayed the vital journey. “I remember saying over and over again, ‘Can you please move, can you please move?’” she recalled. “I wanted the roads to be clear so that my father could get to the hospital on time.” Her father did make it and survived, but as Lighter pointed out, “Every day, that happens thousands of times around the world.”

To spur solutions to the problem of getting first responders to people who need help or transporting patients quickly to medical care when ground transport is constrained, the GoAero prize will reward developers of a vehicle “in the middle of a helicopter or drone,” Lighter explained. She calls this an “emergency response flyer.” While helicopters are the primary method of providing quick aid, they are expensive and require a pilot, and drones can’t carry more than a small payload. “GoAero is asking teams around the world to create [an emergency response flyer]…to deliver that first responder to someone in need, to extricate someone who needs help, or to deliver goods, supplies, or services. And this could be used in regular, everyday medical emergencies and natural disasters.” 

The competition will take place over the next three years. The first stage will be the presentation of concept papers this year, followed by building prototypes next year, and then a fly-off competition in the third year. Participants don’t need to win a previous stage to move on to the next stage. The final fly-off event will require participants to test their emergency response flyer on five missions “that test specific skills and capabilities in mock real-world scenarios.”

All of the participants have access to GoAero’s educational platform, which contains documents, design software, and online lectures and hosts mentors to help the teams with technical information and ideas. “We at GoAero are knocking down hurdles so our teams can build,” said Lighter. “If anyone is interested in joining as a team, if you know of anybody who can help us get out the word to use aircraft for public good, all they have to do is go to our website, GoAeroprize dot com.” 

“Honeywell is really inspired by the GoAero mission,” said Bob Buddecke, president of electronic solutions at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies. “Leveraging the technology innovations that we’re helping to drive into that [advanced air mobility] segment is something that we’re very passionate about. We share the belief that emergency response should be available on a timely basis for all. It can save lives, it’s just good for the world.”