Everybody knows about self-driving cars (no, you can’t sleep behind the wheel, or in the backseat), but how about a pilot-less air taxi?
The EHang 216 was unveiled for the first time in Austria yesterday, with the air taxi hovering above the pitch at Vienna’s Generali Arena, the stadium of football club Austria Wien.
It can seat two passengers, and Derrick Xiong, co-founder of Chinese drone maker EHang, says it’s now ready for mass production.
Given what we know about Boeing and how their computer caused the fatal crash last month, it’s a no from me.
Over to Reuters:
The slim plane, which weighs 340 kg (750 pounds), circled in the air briefly and came down within a few minutes…
Joining the race for new autonomous aircraft services that do not require runways, EHang entered a strategic partnership with Austria’s FACC, owned by Chinese aerospace group AVIC, last year, aiming to offer short-haul services for passengers, industrial equipment and urgent medical deliveries.
The drone can fly at up to 150 km per hour (90 mph) for almost half an hour, FACC Chief Executive Officer Robert Machtlinger said. “It can travel between 50 and 70 kilometers depending on the payload.”
…FACC says it has already received several thousand orders for the 300,000 euro ($336,000) drone, with the highest demand in China.
Let’s see this bad boy in action:
Here’s hoping we don’t have to write about any accidents in the near future.
[source:reuters]
