Hasta La Ideas

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has announced the implementation of self-flying drone taxis around the city beginning this summer. The Chinese produced EHang 184 has been the first vehicle approved, and passengers won’t have to do anything but climb inside and choose a destination via touchscreen, then be terrified until you’re back on the ground.[Safety features include] eight rotors, allowing for redundancy should one or more fail. Redundant processors and sensors can kick in should the primary systems encounter a problem, and the AAV is designed to automatically locate the nearest safe landing spot and touch down should that happen. EHang’s system uses a centralized control room from which it can monitor and take control of the 184 via an encrypted LTE connection. As for performance, though the top speed is around 100 mph, Dubai is likely to restrict the EHang 184 to around 62 mph. Electric, it’s able to fly for around 30 minutes on a full charge, and recharge in 1-2 hours. Maximum cruising altitude is 3,000 feet, and the craft has a footprint roughly 13 feet square; it uses cameras among other sensors to identify a landing spot and position itself accordingly. Okay cool! Keep going for two videos, the second of which is a test flight of the EHang 184…(Read…)