Moonware is a San Francisco-based startup building a cloud-based AI-powered fleet management & routing software platform for ground handling vehicles, and subsequently deploying autonomous & electric ground vehicles to fundamentally reshape airport operations. Our products provide the following benefits:
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Rudimentary human operations cost airlines $12.5B annually in ground handling-related accidents + costs of inactive aircraft
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Taxiing fuel costs amount to $6.5B annually for commercial airlines + environmental costs associated with CO2 emissions
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Uncoordinated operations cost airlines $11B annually which translates to around 30 million minutes per year
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Reducing ramp agent presence enables safer operating conditions and decreases operator workload
Over-the-air (OTA) updates enable frequent optimization of airport ground operations built on our proprietary algorithms. Moonware's cloud-based fleet management network efficiently streamlines vehicle movements for a determined airfield use case, pulling real-time location data from each vehicle and integrating with the existing databases and cloud infrastructures of service providers.
Our vehicle incorporates a novel and patented mechanism that leverages the weight of the aircraft’s front nose gear to generate the necessary torque for tugging operations. This also allows our vehicle to accommodate different landing gear configurations and minimizes landing gear structural fatigue when compared to the other clamping or pin-latch mechanisms.
At the core of all our products is the cloud-based AI-powered software that uses machine learning and sensor fusion to integrate real-time location data from Moonware’s hardware and third-party vehicles into a single autonomous environment for optimal cloud-routing and airfield efficiency management.
The autonomous vehicle is capable of performing aircraft pushback and taxiing to complete the last leg of the ground fleet management optimization, using our cloud software as a master asset manager. Our vehicle is capable of navigating autonomously between pre-determined waypoints across an airfield (e.g. gates, taxiways or runways) that are provided by Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Path updates are obtained by Moonware's proprietary cloud-based network that pulls real-time location data from each vehicle, which is then used to dynamically update the specified route in order to perform a new airport servicing task. This platform eliminates delays associated with uncoordinated ground operations, enables greater airfield throughput and provides faster aircraft turnaround times.
Javier studied Mechanical Engineering at Duke University. Born in Madrid, Spain, he was granted his first patent at age 15 and started his work experience at a robotics company in Tokyo, Japan. He later went on to become one of Tesla’s youngest employees when he was 19 years old, managing high priority and time-sensitive projects at a critical production ramp-up phase. With his subsequent self-driving vehicle work at Uber ATG, he decided to start Moonware after a collaboration with Uber Elevate, realizing the potential it has to transform mobility in all aviation-related industries.
Saunon studied Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. Originally from San José, Costa Rica, he obtained his pilot’s license at age 14 and went on to explore the aerospace landscape through research, industry, and competitions. His work as a hardware engineer at Natilus, an aerospace startup, coupled with self-driving vehicle research with Aptiv and robotics research with NASA Ames, have given him a key understanding of the aerial mobility industry today. He joined Moonware to disrupt the aviation ground handling sector, which has remained stagnant over the last century.
Moonware’s solution was conceived by the surging need for efficient ground handling operations in increasingly congested and saturated airspaces around the world.
Our team leverages years of combined experience building frontier tech across aerospace, robotics, and automotive to solve a critical airfield logistics problem. This operational domain provides favorable constraints with limited edge cases to implement robotics and data-driven solutions that automate ground traffic.
Moonware’s product is deployable across all aviation sectors, including Business Aviation, Commercial Aviation and Urban Air Mobility, with the global vision of leading ground handling services across all aviation-related sectors.
AviationPros.com - Nov. 20, 2020
Moonware has announced its launch as an independent company after a successful year-long collaboration with Uber Elevate.
eVTOLinsights.com - Nov. 19, 2020
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Moonware announces its launch as an independent company to provide software as a ground handling service and help automate airports.
AINonline.com - Nov. 13, 2020
Californian start-up Moonware is stepping up its plans to develop a family of electrically powered tow tugs that it says could transform the ground handling process for aircraft up to the size of wide body airliners.
FutureFlight.aero - Nov. 12, 2020
California start-up Moonware has been trialing its concept for autonomous, electrically powered tow tugs with Uber Elevate for its planned urban air mobility network. It says the vehicles could tow much larger aircraft, too.
eVTOLinsights.com - Nov. 10, 2020
Moonware has announced its launch as an independent company to provide software as a ground handling service and help automate airports and, in future, Skyports for Urban Air Mobility operations.
eVTOL.com - Nov. 2, 2020
Uber Elevate has added Moonware, a robotics and software company developing autonomous, electric ground handling vehicles, to its roster of solutions that will help enable high throughput air taxi services at its Skyports.
