Some forward-looking designers are fielding new electric aerial vehicles that promise to solve the problem of efficient transportation in highly congested urban areas. Two of the more significant efforts are the EHang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) and the CityAirbus urban vehicle.
EHang 184
China-based drone maker EHang introduced the EHang 184 AAV in January 2015, and has already begun flight testing. The electrically powered four-rotor AAV is designed to carry one passenger on point-to-point trips in urban environments, with the passenger using a smartphone to set the destination prior to takeoff.
EHang engineers are well aware that there is more to designing a passenger-carrying autonomous vehicle than simply scaling up a smaller drone. According to the company, “As the EHang 184 might be the multi-rotor aircraft with the world's largest propellers, in order to avoid the problem of ‘control divergence’ in its autonomous flight, we need to do a variety of algorithm optimizations for the flight control system to ensure that such a large multi-rotor aircraft can fly in the air stably.”
EHang said all AAV flights will be monitored in real-time by its command and control center, which will be able to communicate with passengers, monitor flight data and keep an eye on weather conditions. In case of emergency, the AAV will be able to land by itself.
CityAirbus
Airbus Helicopters is serious about exploring the electric VTOL market and plans to begin flight testing the four-seat, all-electric CityAirbus in 2018, with manned flights starting in 2019, according to CEO Guillaume Faury.
To speed the CityAirbus to market, the company is planning for initial operations to be flown by a pilot, followed by autonomous operations as that becomes possible operationally and from a regulatory perspective.
Because it has four seats, the concept for the CityAirbus would be for shared passenger operations. Passengers would book an available seat via a smartphone app then take off from the nearest helipad. “A flight would cost nearly the equivalent of a normal taxi ride for each passenger, but would be faster, more environmentally sustainable and exciting,” according to Airbus.