Pilotless air taxis have moved closer to becoming a reality after Boeing successfully completed its first test flight of a passenger air vehicle.
Boeing successfully completed its first test of a passenger air vehicle making pilot less air taxi soon to be a reality.
The vertical takeoff and landing autonomous craft (VTOL) prototype took off from the company’s plant in Manassas, Virginia. It landed safely after hovering, appears like a giant drone, the battery-powered aircraft is 30 feet long and 28 feet wide.
Boeing’s chief technology officer, Greg Hyslop mentioned of progress in a span of one year from conceptual design to a flying prototype.
To create the means for an airborne ride-sharing network in 2017 the manufacturer had acquired Aurora Flight Sciences which worked with Uber to create the means for the airborne ride-sharing network.
There is a race between Boeing with Airbus and other enterprise to create a suitable craft for short on-demand flights between and within cities.
VTOL was first developed in the 20th century and successful test of takeoff and landing is an essential first stage while the major technological hurdle has been the transition between the vertical and forward-flight modes.
For any high-speed VTOL aircraft the transition phase is typically most significant engineering challenge.
Uber said that the on-demand aviation will be improving the urban mobility saving time in daily commutes. How will it feel if one gets to travel from San Francisco’s Marina to work in downtown San Jose in only 15 minutes which usually takes two hours.
In Los Angeles and the Dallas-Fort urban area the Uber Air network will start off in 2023.
John Langford, president and chief executive of Aurora Flight Sciences said that this is what revolution look liked. Urban mobility will be possible through certifiable autonomy.
The aircraft will be able to share the skies with commercial planes through the development and certification of a viable flying taxi. The airspace in LA and Dallas-Fort Worth areas is congested with multiple airports and cargo air vehicles and driver-less parcel delivery drones.
The initial target for acceptable risk has been set by Uber which is a safety level twice to that of driving a car based on the number of fatalities-per-passenger mile.
Tags: Flying pilot less cars, Uber, VTOL
