Electric self-piloted Airbus VTOL aircraft completes first full-scale test flight

https://newatlas.com/airbus-vtol-vah...53228/Electric
self-piloted Airbus VTOL aircraft completes first full-scale test
flight

The race is most certainly heating up in the world of autonomous
flying taxis. From the Intel-backed Volocopter's recent debut at CES
to Ehang's autonomous passenger drone
https://newatlas.com/dubai-ehang-taxi-drone/47888/ , what seemed like
a crazy sci-fi idea just a few short years ago is rapidly becoming
reality. The latest leap forward comes from Airbus and A³ with the
first successful, full-scale test flight of its single passenger,
self-piloted, electric VTOL aircraft called Vahana.

Early concept art of Vahana
Early concept art of Vahana
The first sketch on a napkin two years ago that started everything
for Vahana
In late 2017, the Vahana team moved to this hangar at the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport

The Vahana project is relatively new compared to much of its
competition with Airbus only launching the project two short years
ago. To move from concept sketch on a napkin to a working prototype in
such a short time is undeniably a remarkable achievement.
In late 2017, the Vahana team moved to this hangar at the Eastern
Oregon Regional Airport

The full-scale aircraft tested was dubbed Alpha One and its first
flight was completely self-piloted, lasting 53 seconds and reaching a
modest height of 5 m (16 ft). The test aircraft measured 5.7 m (18.7
ft) long, 6.2 m (20.3 ft) wide and 2.8 m (9.2 ft) high and had a
takeoff weight of 745 kg (1,642 lb). The next stages for testing will
involve transitioning from vertical to forward flight.

There are undeniably many hurdles, both technically and regulatory,
that need to be overcome before these things are set loose in the
airspace over our cities ,but the pace of development seen in the
Vahana, and others, is truly startling. So much so, it isn't
unreasonable to expect to see autonomous flying taxis in our skies
within the next 10 years.

Source: Vahana.aero
https://vahana.aero/vahanas-first-fl...s-ade26d26ba02

The test flights were initially scheduled for late 2017 but slight
delays pushed them back to...
The test flights were initially scheduled for late 2017 but slight
delays pushed them back to...
The test flights were initially scheduled for late 2017 but slight
delays pushed them back to...
Vahana during initial engine testing

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