Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. OBERNOLTE. Mr. Speaker, advanced air mobility has the potential to revolutionize personal transportation in the United States.

Imagine a future just a few years from now where instead of summoning a taxicab, Mr. Speaker, you walk several blocks to a nearby vertiport where an autonomous aerial vehicle comes down to pick you up, hovers briefly, touches down, the doors open for you, and it takes you straight to your destination at a cost similar to calling an Uber today. That is the potential of advanced air mobility. Unfortunately, it is going to require the coordination and cooperation of many different Federal, State, and local government agencies to realize its potential.

There are many thorny problems that have to be solved before that reality is available to us, for example, problems around the certification of these vehicles and problems around the regulation of the industry.

Are they regulated like a taxicab operator, or are they regulated like an air carrier?

Who pays for and conducts the planning for these vertiports?

What considerations are there for aircraft noise?

What certification standards surround the autonomous vehicle software that controls these aerial vehicles?

All of these are problems that will have to be solved before this can become a reality.

If we are not careful about laying the foundation for success with this industry, then, unfortunately, regulation will serve to crush this optimistic future instead of catalyzing it.

That is why I am so happy that we are considering two important bills with respect to advanced air mobility on the floor of the House today. The first of these bills will establish a working group of different government agencies whose coordination and cooperation will be necessary to solve some of these regulatory problems that face this burgeoning industry.

The second of these bills will establish a new grant program for the planning and development of the infrastructure necessary to support advanced air mobility.

Mr. Speaker, together these bills represent a very meaningful first investment in this incredibly exciting new industry. I urge support, and I am happy to see the House take up these bills tonight.

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