Vertical Aerospace partners with Monolith for AI-enhanced testing
January 7, 2025
Bristol-based eVTOL company Vertical Aerospace has teamed up with London-headquartered software company Monolith as its ‘AI for engineering’ partner, leveraging the insights of artificial intelligence to inform its ongoing aircraft development.
Describing Vertical’s piloted, four-passenger VX4 as representing “one of the most promising contributors” to the urban air mobility “transformation,” Monolith CEO and founder Dr Richard Ahlfeld explained: “With Monolith, Vertical will model complex systems faster and accelerate test campaigns, enabling the company to learn more about design performance while reducing development and testing time”.
Having made the inaugural untethered flight of its second aircraft in November 2024 (following the successful conclusion of its initial piloted flight test programme in September), Vertical continues to work through its ongoing test campaign from its flight test centre at Kemble, Gloucestershire. Its sights are set on certification in 2028.
However, with Monolith recognising that “flight and ground tests for eVTOL are incredibly complex, expensive and time-consuming,” the integration of AI-driven aspects allows Vertical to “enhance [its] engineering precision, reduce timelines, and continue setting the benchmark for the eVTOL industry,” explained Vertical Aerospace Chief Engineer David King. “Collaborating with Monolith allows us … to streamline our testing processes, enabling us to focus on the most impactful areas and accelerate the VX4’s journey to market”.
The first such “impactful area” of focus concerns the testing and simulation of the VX4’s supporting pylon structures. This element of the aircraft has already undergone (admittedly unplanned) real-world structural testing, when Vertical’s first test aircraft suffered a ground impact in August 2023; causing, as the UK AAIB explained, “structural failure of the right inboard pylon” as a result of a detatched propeller blade and large out-of-balance loads.
Monolith’s ‘Next Test Recommender’ (NTR) AI-driven algorithm will also provide Vertical’s engineers with “a ranked selection of the most impactful tests to run, increasing design space coverage in unknown areas with a more efficient and trustworthy test plan”.
Looking beyond Vertical’s initial aircraft concept, the software provider concluded that its AI-driven insight could also be applied for the development of “future models,” something Vertical explained in November 2023 that could be achieved in as little as two years post-certification. This so-called major upgrade to its aircraft (including two additional passenger seats and extended range) could be achieved with “minimal adjustments to the design of certification requirements,” stated Vertical.
Monolith’s previous experience extends to Siemens, Honeywell and the BMW Group, with the company concluding it has “a proven track record in aerospace engineering following recent projects with Airbus and BAE Systems on aircraft and drones”.
