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 is challenging nearly 200 global teams to design innovative automated aircraft for emergency response, aiming to overcome the limitations of current systems like ambulances, helicopters, and drones.
Supported by industry experts and sponsors like NASA, participants are developing advanced eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) concepts to deliver first responders, patients, and supplies in various disaster and medical scenarios.
Beyond the competition, the aerospace industry is actively pursuing autonomous and optionally piloted solutions for public safety, with recent FAA regulatory changes facilitating the integration and widespread deployment of these advanced systems.

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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.