Airbus successfully tests autonomous flying taxi
The Vahana vertical take-off and landing flying taxi made its first flight lasting 53 seconds in Oregon, USA.
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The first test flight of the Vahana flying taxi prototype. Photo:Verge. |
Airbus successfully conducted the first test flight of the Vahana vertical take-off and landing flying taxi on January 31 in Oregon, USA.VergeThe taxi reached an altitude of about 5 meters and flew for 53 seconds before landing safely.
Airbus' goal is to create a fleet of autonomous vertical take-off and landing flying taxis that can move between buildings in crowded, traffic-clogged cities. The project began in 2016 and is one of the first projects from A³, Airbus's Silicon Valley facility.
This prototype, called Alpha One, was originally scheduled to make its first test flight in late 2017. Alpha One is 6.2 meters long, 5.7 meters wide, 2.8 meters high, and weighs 745 kilograms. Airbus plans to officially launch this flying taxi in 2020.
“Our long-standing goal is to design and build an autonomous, electric, single-passenger vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to meet the growing need for flexible urban mobility,” said Zach Lovering, Vahana project manager.
“We want to democratize personal flight by leveraging the latest technologies such as electric propulsion, energy storage and machine vision. The first flights mark a major milestone for Vahana and the evolution of urban air travel around the world,” he added.
