Hey everyone! I hope you all are safe and sound. I hope that you have read the previous posts in the project quad series. How are you liking them? If you've not read them then I suggest you first read them and then continue reading over here. Let's go!
In the previous post I had mentioned that whatever research I'm doing is quite fragmented. I am looking at various sources and there is no such flow in place. And even though too much knowledge is never bad, I believe that by following too many sources, opinions and ideas, too many cooks could spoil the broth. At first I decided to start reading books. Minor confession - I HATE reading textual books. Since childhood, I find it very difficult to read, interpret and visualise content written in books. I always prefer a visual medium as it latches onto my mind fairly quickly. The only books that I have read ever are the Harry Potter series of novels. Mind you, this is just with regards to reading general fiction and non-fiction textual books during leisure time. I did not have any problem reading books related to computer science during college.
But I always loved to write. Interestingly, when I was in the 6th standard, I had written a fiction book on the nautical adventures of a certain character (Lurry) and his family. Even my school teacher took it home to read and gave me a pretty good review. Recently I found the novel in storage and looking back, I believe that the vocabulary and writing style was pretty good for a 12 year old :D. Even today, I believe my writing to be above average. Let me know what do you think of my writing skill and style in the comments.
I know that the tendency to not read books is probably not a good thing. At some point, I am going to have to practice reading books, as I have heard countless people tell that its a very good habit, and I strongly believe it since reading awakens the reader's mind and sometimes transports the reader to a different world. But for now, I started looking for relevant online courses.
There is a very informative YouTube channel called 'eVTOL Innovation' who post interesting content on the various prototype eVTOL aircraft currently being tested. I have seen quite a few of their videos which are made in collaboration with (sponsored by) an ed-tech platform called Brilliant. I had heard about this platform and checked it out. It was quite interesting as this was the first ed-tech platform with some interactive activities and animations. I liked it a lot and would prove very useful. But there was no content regarding aeronautics or aviation in general.
Then I found an introductory course on 'Urban Air Mobility' in Coursera and enrolled into the free version (without the certificate). Currently I have completed 2 modules of the total 12, and so far it has been exactly I was looking for and what I needed at this point of the project. The course introduces you to the concept of 'Urban Air Mobility' and how it could be implemented in the real world. The second module has the head of the Airbus UAM entity explaining how Airbus envisions the future of UAM, showcasing their eVTOL prototype - NextGen.
As of now, I'm finding the lectures to be on point and in line with the vision and thoughts I have for the UAM field. I was also enlightened to the huge challenge that would present to us in the future - government certification and regulation of the entire UAM ecosystem. I also liked the fact that Airbus showed how they are planning to carry forward the UAM division, work-wise, by focusing on 3 pillars -
Team - hiring passionate and dedicated talent
Technology - aim for technological excellence
Funding
I agree that when all three of these pillars are strong, then only will the resultant product and company succeed. I also came across the concept of objectives and outcomes, how big companies like Google, Microsoft etc. use these concepts to maximize their productivity. I need to read about this a bit more in detail. Let's save that for a future post.
Side note - based on what I've seen, there are a lot of similarities in work culture and office setup among European companies (since Airbus is European). I'm saying this since the work culture in my current company (also European) is also quite similar. Our office furniture setup is uncannily similar to the Airbus UAM office shown in the course. We too have flexible seating. Just a small observation.
This brings another question in my mind. Almost all the developments in the UAM space are concentrated in USA and Europe (China as well to some extent). But India is missing. I agree that at its core, we are a poor third world country. I hate to admit it, but that is the truth. 90% of our population has a monthly income less than Rs.25000. However, we are technologically advanced in a disorganised manner. At least we get all the latest technology in the world at the same time as the developed countries, sometimes even before (UPI). I've heard that this was not the case roughly 10 years ago, when we used to get the latest tech 1-2 years after it was launched in the USA. Do ask your parents about this. I reckon this gap would be higher for their generation.
UAM could be very big in India. But for that we would need the government to act in a swift and progressive manner and establish a strong, strict and hassle-free certification and regulation process to enable the implementation of the UAM ecosystem. But I fear that for me personally, it would be very hard for me to work on building a UAM based eVTOL company in India, without gaining some relevant experience abroad. I have found a couple of Indian startups that are working in the UAM space. I will surely check them out. But I believe that at some point, I would have to gain some valuable education and experience in relevant companies abroad that are much ahead in the UAM game at this point in time.
This means that at some point in the future, I would have to move to the Europe or USA for some time. This is a huge thing as it is quite a big leap of faith. A lot of my friends and classmates have gone abroad for higher studies at the expense of huge student loans which they try to repay when they start working there. Even in my current organisation, my colleagues aim for on-site jobs where they would work in developed nations and get paid in dollars or respective high-value currencies. People are highly inclined to leave India and work and settle abroad. Maybe I'll talk about this in a separate post.
For now, I am continuing the coursera course and I still have 10 modules to go, along with some small quizzes. So I'll be focusing on the course currently and will hope to finish it in about a week or two. I am hoping that, through this course, I get the confidence that UAM is inevitable and indeed the future of mobility, since there is always the possibility that i might be in a delusion and UAM might not be the required solution that we are aiming to find.
That's all for now. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions below.
Take care and see you next time!