As the city of Miami gears up to become a possible early adopter of eVTOL air taxi services, a local college has launched a consortium of academic, industry, and government partners to help bring the vision of urban air mobility (UAM) to fruition.

The University of Miami's College of Engineering announced on Monday the creation of the Miami Engineering Autonomous Mobility Initiative (MEAMI), which “aims to advance autonomous mobility technology and anticipate challenges to implementation in today’s cities,” the university said in a statement.

“The consortium will investigate the many aspects of autonomous mobility, including advanced propulsion, sensing, integration of satellite signals with local sensing, artificial intelligence, clean energy, energy storage, and advanced materials, with prominent faculty members leading the way,” the university said. “In addition, issues of safety, air traffic control, regulatory aspects related to noise, cybersecurity, and other relevant matters will also be addressed by the consortium.”

According to the university, the consortium will study the use of autonomous, self-flying air taxis as well as autonomous ground vehicles, or self-driving cars, to help transport people and cargo around Miami and other similar urban areas. Members of the MEAMI consortium include eVTOL aircraft developer Eve Air Mobility, aircraft retailer Aeroauto, and transportation logistics specialist Ryder Systems, and it's supported by public-sector partners such as the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Education, and Department of Transportation.

Eve, a Florida-based subsidiary of Brazilian aerospace group Embraer, is also separately working to develop a concept of operations for UAM services connecting Miami International Airport (MIA) and the Miami Beach Convention Center, together with air traffic management specialist L3 Harris Technologies, ground infrastructure provider Skyports, and the Community Air Mobility Initiative (CAMI).

Eve isn’t the only eVTOL aircraft manufacturer eyeing Miami as an early adopter of its vehicles. Archer, Lilium, and Supernal have also expressed interest in launching eVTOL air taxi services in the area. Eve, however, does not plan to operate its own air taxi services and will instead supply its aircraft to operators, such as Miami-based charter carrier Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX), which recently committed to purchasing up to 200 of Eve’s four-passenger eVTOL air taxis.

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