Chinese firm EHang reveals self flying MEGADRONE taxi
EHang claims to be building the world's first 'Autonomous Aerial Vehicle' for transporting people.
Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas and called the 184, the all-electric vehicle has four arms with a total of eight propellers at the end.
'You know how it feels to sit in a Ferrari? This is 10 times better,' George Yan, co-founder of Ehang said in an interview with DailyMail.com.
The company says the 184 is autonomous, so all the passenger has to do is enter in their destination in the smartphone app, sit back, and let the drone take over.
There's no option to take control of the 184 remotely. The cockpit is empty, apart from a stand to place a smartphone or tablet and a cup holder.
'I think in all of us there is that little kid in all of us that says I want to fly,' said Yan. 'I don’t want to get a pilot license after five or 10 hours of flying, I want to do it right away. We’re making that dream happen.'
'Everything is calculated in the backend to pick the most optimal route for you, so there is no collision with the other drones flying,' said Yan.
'On the drone itself we have built pretty sophisticated back up services so if another system fails then another will take over.'
In the event of an emergency, passengers can also elect to halt flight and simply hover in the air.
The EHang 184, which was named for ‘one’ passenger, ‘eight’ propellers, and ‘four’ arms. When it's not in use, it can be folded up so that it can be stored away more easily.
EHang said the vehicle is primarily designed for traveling short-to-medium distances — around 10 miles — and will fly at around 60 miles per hour.
'I think in all of us there is that little kid in all of us that says I want to fly,' said founder George Yan. 'I don’t want to get a pilot license after five or 10 hours of flying, I want to do it right away. We’re making that dream happen'
EHang claims to be building the world's first 'Autonomous Aerial Vehicle' for transporting people. 'You know how it feels to sit in a Ferrari? This is 10 times better,' said George Yan, co-founder of Ehang in an interview with DailyMail.com
EHang said the vehicle is primarily designed for traveling short-to-medium distances — around 10 miles — and will fly at 60 miles per hour
It takes off and lands vertically, subsequently eliminating the need for runways.
'Mass-adoption of the 184 has the potential to streamline congested traffic and dramatically reduce the kinds of accidents associated with any human-operated vehicle,' the firm claims.
'It's been a lifetime goal of mine to make flight faster, easier and more convenient than ever. The 184 provides a viable solution to the many challenges the transportation industry faces in a safe and energy efficient way,' said EHang CEO Huazhi Hu.
'I truly believe that EHang will make a global impact across dozens of industries beyond personal travel.
'The 184 is evocative of a future we've always dreamed of and is primed to alter the very fundamentals of the way we get around.'
The 184 has been in development for 2 and a half years, and the company is aiming to release a commercial version later this year, depending on safety tests and future drone regulations.
As well as having to work in the confines of UAV laws, there is also the issue of trust. Would anyone ever trust a drone to fly them to a destination?
'If you roll the timeline back to 100 years you will see that when we went from horse and carriage to vehicles people had the same concerns of whether you could trust it to take you from A to B,' said Yan.
'If you look out the cars out there and unmanned vehicles, you can understand that we can make these technology breakthrough.
You just have to start somewhere.'
THE DRONE TAXI: WHAT FLYING IN THE 184 WILL BE LIKE
The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app.
The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B.
These systems combine real-time data collected from sensors throughout the flight and automatically plot the fastest and safest route to carry passengers to their destinations.
The EHang 184 has built in reinforcements for all flight systems, so that in the unlikely event that a component does fail, multiple backups are already in place to seamlessly take over.
The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app
The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B.
EHang’s independently developed Fail-Safe System ensures that if any components malfunction, or if there’s damage while the AAV is in-flight (i.e. from a bird), the aircraft will immediately begin taking the necessary precautions to ensure safety.
The 184’s Fail-Safe System automatically evaluates the damage and determines whether the AAV will need to land to ensure its passenger’s safety.
The EHang 184 AAV flight control systems have multiple sets of sensors that provide the drone a constant stream of real-time data.
The 184’s communication system was also designed with a safety guarantee: every system is encrypted, and each AAV comes with an independent key.
In the event of an emergency, passengers can elect to halt flight and simply hover in the air with just one click.
'The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app,' the firm says
EHang will also have a command center that employs people to make sure everything is safe — sort of like an air traffic controller at an airport.
The command center will monitor every 184 in the air 24/7 and the company plans integrate with existing air traffic controller operations.
The command center would, for example, make sure that a 184 doesn't take off in extreme weather conditions.
No official launch date has been set, but the company said commercialization will begin in a few months. EHang will first launch in the China and set up a command center there, where it will employ around 300 people, but the US isn't far behind.
The company will begin working on getting a certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration soon.
No official launch date has been set, but the company said commercialization will begin in a few months. EHang will first launch in the China and set up a command center there, where it will employ around 300 people, but the US isn't far behind
The EHang 184, was named for ‘one’ passenger, ‘eight’ propellers, and ‘four’ arms. When not in use, it can be folded up (right)
President/CEO Hu Huazhi of EHang unveils the 184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle at CES Las Vegas from the Las Vegas Convention Center Daily Mail Online