Tech Mahindra brings composites experience to fly-and-drive eVTOL

Tech Mahindra (Pune, India) a provider of digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering services, is to collaborate with ASKA (Los Altos, Calif., U.S.), a drive-and-fly company that offers a new -generation commuter vehicle by combining the convenience of an automobile, with the safety, ease and efficiency of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) flight.  

This collaboration will leverage Tech Mahindra’s expertise in the engineering space that comes with decades of experience of working with top aerospace and automotive customers. Tech Mahindra will support ASKA in the areas of design, analysis, development of composites and advanced materials, crash dynamics (automotive and aerospace), battery and structural testing.

“We are confident that our engagement with Tech Mahindra will boost ASKA’s development, testing and certification process to meet ASKA’s commercialization target for 2026,” notes Guy Kaplinsky, co-founder and CEO of ASKA. “Tech Mahindra’s aim to deliver tomorrow’s experiences today, solidly supports our mission to solve the worldwide problem of traffic congestion and improve people’s quality of life.”

ASKA is a four-seater electric flying vehicle that can drive like a car, as well as take off vertically to fly like an aircraft, with a maximum flight range of 250 miles on a single charge. It is also equipped with a range extender engine that charges the batteries during flight. 

“The development of drive-and-fly vehicles is an emerging area of innovation globally, which can play a great role in creating best travel experience with minimal infrastructure investment and low environmental impacts,” suggests Lakshmanan Chidambaram, president – Enterprise America, Tech Mahindra. “We look forward to creating synergies with ASKA by working on the engineering design and analysis of fly-and-drive eVTOL.”