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Science/Tech
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Title: This Chinese octocopter wants to fly you at 60 mph
Source: [None]
URL Source: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/octocopt ... ly-60-mph-210112806.html?nhp=1
Published: Jan 7, 2016
Author: Stephen Shankland
Post Date: 2016-01-07 01:54:31 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 247
Comments: 5

[CNET]

The EHang 184 AAV is designed to fly a passenger for a trip lasting up to 23 minutes.

Think Amazon delivery drones are a radical idea? A Chinese startup called Ehang has used the same technology to build an aircraft to carry a passenger more than 20 miles.

The EHang 184 AAV is a one-person pod lifted by eight rotors mounted in pairs on four folding arms -- thus the number 184. Announced Wednesday at the CES tech show in Las Vegas, the battery-powered aircraft is designed to carry a passenger for 23 minutes at about 60 miles per hour. The machine pilots itself.

For decades, people have dreamed of soaring over traffic jams with jetpacks, flying cars and other personal aircraft. Some of designs are more traditional, like the two-person Icon A5 that lands on water or dry ground, and some are more futuristic, like the Terrafugia Transition, meant for both roadways and airways. Regardless, making that personal aviation dream a reality means working through difficulties intertwining cost, safety, engineering and regulations.

"The 184 provides a viable solution to the many challenges the transportation industry faces in a safe and energy efficient way," said EHang Chief Executive Huazhi Hu in a statement. Though it's initially aimed at commuters and adventuresome people, "EHang will make a global impact across dozens of industries beyond personal travel," he said.

Before that can happen, EHang's whirlybird ambitions will have to reckon with sharp regulatory constraints.

"It isn't going to be that you get one under the Christmas tree, take it outside, and go flying. You're still talking about what amounts to a manned aircraft," more like a helicopter than a drone, said Mark Dombroff, an aviation attorney for law firm Dentons, who previously represented the Federal Aviation Administration and Justice Department. "They're not going to be able to sell this without having some sort of airworthiness certificate, probably experimental." The EHang can travel at about 60mph for 23 minutes on battery power.​ The EHang can travel at about 60mph for 23 minutes on battery power.​

EHang said that it's working with multiple governments around the world and that no pilot's license will be required to use the 184 AAV. Passengers navigate by tapping a destination on an electronic map on the aircraft's tablet interface, and the 184 handles the rest.

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LAS VEGAS, United States, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese drone maker Ehang on Wednesday unveiled the world's first drone capable of carrying one passenger, which might help achieve the long-standing dream of automated short-to-medium-distance everyday flights.

The electrically powered Ehang 184, unveiled at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, can carry a single passenger weighing up to 100 kg for a 23-minute flight at sea level at a speed of 100 km per hour, the company said.

After setting a flight plan, passengers only need to send two commands: "take off" and "land," each controlled by a single click on an accompanying tablet, it said.

There's no need for a runway because the drone takes off and lands vertically.

"Due to the 184's fully automated navigation, made possible by Ehang's 24/7, real-time flight command center, passengers have no need for a pilot's license -- they simply sit back and let the drone take over from there," the Guangzhou-based company said in a statement.

"This first realization of automated flight signifies a major turning point not only for the transportation industry, but also for a huge swath of other fields such as shipping, medical care and retail," said the statement.

As to safety, Ehang said the drone has built in reinforcements for all flight systems, so that in the unlikely event that a component does fail, backups can seamlessly take over.

If there's damage during a flight, for example, from a bird, the drone will automatically determine whether it will need to land to ensure its passenger's safety. In the event of an emergency, passengers can also choose to halt flight and simply hover in the air with just one click.

In addition, while the drone is able to fly during thunderstorms and other extreme weather conditions, Ehang's real-time flight command center can prohibit it from taking off as a precaution.

Derrick Xiong, Ehang co-founder and chief marketing officer, told Xinhua that his company plans to sell the drone later this year at a price of 200,000 to 300,000 U.S. dollars per unit, but acknowledged that it initially may be only used in designated places such as tourist areas.

"But in the end, we hope people can use it as a means of transport for short-to-medium-distance travel," he said.

Currently, there are no regulations that apply to such products because it represents an entirely new category of technology.

"We are in uncharted waters, and are working closely with government agencies across the planet to develop and regulate the future of transportation," Ehang said.

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