GoAERO Competition Promotes Creation of Automatic Lifesavers

Nearly 200 teams vie to build autonomous emergency response.

Jack Daleo

Monday, November 17, 2025 at 08:00 AM ET

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Edited By:

Jack Daleo

GoAERO CEO Gwen Lighter (right) poses with Bob Buddecke, president of electronic solutions at Honeywell—one of the competition’s many sponsors. [Courtesy: GoAERO]

Key Takeaways:

The GoAERO competition challenges nearly 200 teams to design a new generation of automated aircraft for emergency response, aiming to overcome the limitations of traditional helicopters and drones in disaster relief, medical evacuation, and firefighting.
Driven by an urgent need for updated emergency systems and private sector innovation, participants are developing advanced eVTOL concepts capable of autonomous operation in diverse environments to enhance aid delivery and save lives.
Recent FAA regulatory changes, including the MOSAIC rule and proposed Part 108 for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, are set to accelerate the integration and deployment of these autonomous aircraft into public safety missions.

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More than 1,600 university students, engineers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other participants are vying to design and build a new generation of emergency response aircraft. And the competition is heating up.

September marked the submission deadline for Stage 2 of GoAERO (Aerial Emergency Response Operations): a three-year challenge that has tasked nearly 200 teams with creating automated aircraft for disaster relief, aerial firefighting, casualty evacuation, and any number of emergency scenarios. Up for grabs is $2 million in prize money—and the opportunity to save countless lives.