Airspeeder partners with Telstra Purple for global series of electric flying car races

Australia’s largest technology services business, Telstra Purple, is pushing the boundaries of technology to power Airspeeder’s global series of electric flying car races in a ground-breaking new partnership.

Connecting terabytes of data for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications, Telstra Purple will deliver the near real-time virtual race-control system required for the high-speed, close format, multi-vehicle circuit racing in the Airspeeder EXA series.

The state-of-the-art system feeds essential technical information to ground crews during test flights and races, reflecting the same approach leading aviation companies use to augment and monitor the systems essential for aircraft safety. Whether pilots are on-board or flying remotely, they’ll be able to safely race in close proximity with near real-time data and connectivity powering proximity sensors that deliver haptic vibration alerts.

Telstra is also uniquely placed to deliver a fully immersive 5G powered spectator experience through augmented and virtual reality devices, signalling the advent of an entirely new way to experience the next generation of sporting experiences.

The Airspeeder racing series has been created by the world’s only performance electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) manufacturer, Alauda Aeronautics and the historic first flights took place near Adelaide in June.

Head of Telstra Purple, Christopher Smith said it played a vital role in supporting Airspeeder’s demanding requirements in this new-age sporting and entertainment experience: “Cutting-edge racing requires cutting-edge capability which we’ve delivered through Telstra Purple’s extensive expertise, technical capabilities and our strategic collaboration agreement with AWS, combined with Australia’s most advanced 5G.

“Key components of Airspeeder’s race control system include private network communications, data visualisation, edge compute power and bespoke app development. Our communications expertise is critical for a sport that is driven by data from the ground up; the high speeds, low latency and high-capacity connectivity of Telstra 5G will change the way car racing is experienced.

“Just as Formula One has driven innovation for the cars we use today, Airspeeder’s vision for the world’s first electric flying car racing series has the potential to transform the way we move around cities.” Mr Smith said.

Matt Pearson, founder, Airspeeder and Alauda Aeronautics said the new technical partnership would bring key benefits to racing and the future development of an advanced air-mobility future: “In delivering on our vision to create the world’s first racing series for electric flying cars we have been drawn to South Australia for some of the very best technical minds from motorsport, aviation and performance automotive.

“We are delighted to add to this incredible talent pool the capabilities of Telstra Purple.

“Together, we will hasten the arrival of a new mobility technology that has been promised for generations whilst bringing a new form of motorsport to millions of fans across the globe from some of the world’s most remote and beautiful locations.”

Telstra’s 5G connectivity will support Airspeeder in its vision to accelerate the electric flying car mobility revolution. Racing provides an important testbed to rapidly develop key safety, powertrain and engineering elements that will help drive an advanced air mobility future.