Speaking to Commercial UAV News from the show floor at Commercial UAV Expo, Gwen Lighter, founder & CEO of GoAERO explained the mission of her organization in simple terms. 

“We are a global competition to create emergency response aircraft,” she stated. "We are supported by phenomenal partners, including Boeing and NASA and RTX and Honeywell and 30 different aerospace and first responder organizations around the world, and together, we've collectively come to really catalyze the creation of these emergency response aircraft.”

Working with GoAero, these companies and organizations are working to create a better UAV for emergency response operations, Lighter said. Understanding the effectiveness of safe, autonomy enabled devices rescues and critical response missions, GoAero is holding a three-year competition to create what it calls “a new type of aircraft” to perform these missions.

“What we're asking the world to create, and what the first responders told us again and again that they need, is something in the middle between a little commercial drone and a helicopter,” Lighter explained. “You can imagine these vehicles behind a trailer or in a police station or an ambulance or a fire truck, whatever the case may be. They would take off vertically, bring that first response to someone in need, rescue that person, or bring goods or supplies. They could really be used in a number of different ways.”

The GoAero competition offers more than $2.5 million in prizes. The competition is divided into three stages: paper presentations, prototype submissions, and a drone fly-off. Teams of all sizes and from all sectors, including industry and academics, are encouraged to make submissions. To help, Go Aero offers mentorship, educational resources, and access to software and services. So far, more than 130 teams have registered.

Lighter encourages more interested individuals and groups to join the competition and work to develop better uncrewed systems for critical public safety and emergency response missions. “GoAero and our partners all believe we should be focused on saving lives - and using this technology to save lives,” Lighter said.

To learn more or to register for the competition, visit GoAERO.