Is it April fools day?
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Is it April fools day?
Uber plans self-flying drone taxis to beat city traffic
If you summon an Uber in 10 years’ time, you will probably get a car that drives itself. But then again, you may not be travelling in a car at all.
The taxi-hailing app is working on technology that would allow airborne passenger drones to fly its users short distances around cities, it has emerged, raising the prospect of a future in which skylines are dotted with Uber aircraft shuttling commuters back and forth.
Jeff Holden, Uber’s head of product, told technology website Recode that the company is researching “vertical take off and landing” (VTOL) technology. Instead of the helicopter-style rotor blade drones, VTOL aircraft have fixed wings like planes, enabling them to fly silently, while taking off and landing vertically.
Taken from The Telegraph on line today
If you summon an Uber in 10 years’ time, you will probably get a car that drives itself. But then again, you may not be travelling in a car at all.
The taxi-hailing app is working on technology that would allow airborne passenger drones to fly its users short distances around cities, it has emerged, raising the prospect of a future in which skylines are dotted with Uber aircraft shuttling commuters back and forth.
Jeff Holden, Uber’s head of product, told technology website Recode that the company is researching “vertical take off and landing” (VTOL) technology. Instead of the helicopter-style rotor blade drones, VTOL aircraft have fixed wings like planes, enabling them to fly silently, while taking off and landing vertically.
Taken from The Telegraph on line today
Avoid imitations
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The media also thought that by 1980 we'd all be living on the moon.
EHANG|Official Site-EHANG 184 autonomous aerial vehicle
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And just think of the huge financial claims when a UBER passenger falls on your head from a couple of hundred feet up over that city
Uber always looking for headlines as part of their marketing strategy
Uber always looking for headlines as part of their marketing strategy
These guys are kidding themselves. You only have to look at dramas the military had with VTOL let alone doing it in enclosed spaces with civilians and buildings all around. These guys must be expecting that the Aviation regulators are going to re-write the rules just for them.
Here's the original source:
Uber is researching a new vertical-takeoff ride offering that flies you around - Recode
Here's the original source:
Uber is researching a new vertical-takeoff ride offering that flies you around - Recode
In an onstage interview with me today at the Nantucket Conference, Uber products head Jeff Holden said that the fast-growing ride-sharing company was seriously looking at a new form of transportation to offer its customers: Short-haul flying in cities.
The technology is called VTOL — which stands for vertical takeoff and landing. Simply put, VTOL is an aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically, which would also describe a helicopter. But, unlike the typical helicopter, these planes have multiple rotors, could have fixed wings and perhaps eventually would use batteries and be more silent. In time, like cars, such aircraft would be autonomous.
Holden said that he has been researching the area, “so we can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around.” He added that “doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at.”
Holden said in the interview that such technology could be in use within a decade, which is an aggressive prediction, given the issues around the complexity of movement in the air above densely populated areas. (Also, you know, the possibility of these VTOL vehicles crashing into each other.)
Holden, whp previously worked at Amazon and Groupon, has been deeply involved in Uber’s recent rollout of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. He noted that the company accelerated the development of that technology after it was first mentioned by CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick only a few years ago.
VTOL is certainly a step further in ambition, but it’s a pretty slick concept to imagine, and the actual development of such vehicles is far along.
While Uber’s plans are in their infancy, the idea of airports everywhere — Holden talked about landing on top of buildings in cities, reducing commuting time and congestion dramatically — is compelling. Holden said he imagined that many people would use it together, like a way cooler UberPool. Uber has offered helicopter services before, but it was largely a marketing effort, he said.
VTOL is another thing altogether and, thus far, most of the development of vertical takeoff and landing has been done by the military. Below, for example, is a video that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is imagining as part of its VTOL Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) program, which “aims to overcome these challenges through innovative cross-pollination between fixed-wing and rotary-wing technologies and by developing and integrating novel subsystems to enable radical improvements in vertical and cruising flight capabilities.”
There are a lot of startups in the space, and big companies are experimenting with VTOL, too. Aeronautics giant Airbus recently unveiled research on air taxis for cities, serving both passengers and cargo. As noted in Aviation Week last month: “The single-passenger vehicle is being developed by A3, Airbus’s Silicon Valley outpost, under Project Vahana, launched in February. A team of internal and external developers have agreed on a vehicle design, and the prototype is scheduled to fly at the end of 2017.”
Of course, there are a multitude of regulatory and safety issues to overcome — simple drones are freaking people out, so imagine this thing landing in your neighborhood on a regular basis.
But Holden, who described himself as a geek many times onstage in the “Future of Cities” panel that I moderated, seemed giddy at the idea. “It could change cities and how we work and live,” he said, also underscoring that the goal of Uber was to eliminate private car ownership in time.
“VTOL is another way to do that,” said Holden, describing a whole new way to commute quickly and efficiently, and decrying increasing the traffic congestion such as that between San Francisco and nearby Oakland (it is awful) that makes it near impossible to move around urban areas.
Holden posited that that long commute could be reduced to nine minutes.
And, just to be clear, none of this is a new idea. In 1493, Leonardo da Vinci conceived of an “aerial screw” (see below) that was much in the range of such vehicles.
The technology is called VTOL — which stands for vertical takeoff and landing. Simply put, VTOL is an aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically, which would also describe a helicopter. But, unlike the typical helicopter, these planes have multiple rotors, could have fixed wings and perhaps eventually would use batteries and be more silent. In time, like cars, such aircraft would be autonomous.
Holden said that he has been researching the area, “so we can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around.” He added that “doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at.”
Holden said in the interview that such technology could be in use within a decade, which is an aggressive prediction, given the issues around the complexity of movement in the air above densely populated areas. (Also, you know, the possibility of these VTOL vehicles crashing into each other.)
Holden, whp previously worked at Amazon and Groupon, has been deeply involved in Uber’s recent rollout of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. He noted that the company accelerated the development of that technology after it was first mentioned by CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick only a few years ago.
VTOL is certainly a step further in ambition, but it’s a pretty slick concept to imagine, and the actual development of such vehicles is far along.
While Uber’s plans are in their infancy, the idea of airports everywhere — Holden talked about landing on top of buildings in cities, reducing commuting time and congestion dramatically — is compelling. Holden said he imagined that many people would use it together, like a way cooler UberPool. Uber has offered helicopter services before, but it was largely a marketing effort, he said.
VTOL is another thing altogether and, thus far, most of the development of vertical takeoff and landing has been done by the military. Below, for example, is a video that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is imagining as part of its VTOL Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) program, which “aims to overcome these challenges through innovative cross-pollination between fixed-wing and rotary-wing technologies and by developing and integrating novel subsystems to enable radical improvements in vertical and cruising flight capabilities.”
There are a lot of startups in the space, and big companies are experimenting with VTOL, too. Aeronautics giant Airbus recently unveiled research on air taxis for cities, serving both passengers and cargo. As noted in Aviation Week last month: “The single-passenger vehicle is being developed by A3, Airbus’s Silicon Valley outpost, under Project Vahana, launched in February. A team of internal and external developers have agreed on a vehicle design, and the prototype is scheduled to fly at the end of 2017.”
Of course, there are a multitude of regulatory and safety issues to overcome — simple drones are freaking people out, so imagine this thing landing in your neighborhood on a regular basis.
But Holden, who described himself as a geek many times onstage in the “Future of Cities” panel that I moderated, seemed giddy at the idea. “It could change cities and how we work and live,” he said, also underscoring that the goal of Uber was to eliminate private car ownership in time.
“VTOL is another way to do that,” said Holden, describing a whole new way to commute quickly and efficiently, and decrying increasing the traffic congestion such as that between San Francisco and nearby Oakland (it is awful) that makes it near impossible to move around urban areas.
Holden posited that that long commute could be reduced to nine minutes.
And, just to be clear, none of this is a new idea. In 1493, Leonardo da Vinci conceived of an “aerial screw” (see below) that was much in the range of such vehicles.
Last edited by neville_nobody; 28th Sep 2016 at 00:54.
I think the aeronautical engineers working for Ehang on the 184 personal drone might have a thing or two to say to 1950s guy and sliderule.
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EHANG|Official Site-EHANG 184 autonomous aerial vehicle
EHANGer: "We've invented a machine that - should it ever get beyond being a CGI video - will take a payload of up to 100kg for a distance of almost 40km, and will then need two to four hours to recharge before it can fly again."
SlideRuler: "You just keep thinkin', Butch - that's what you're good at.
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How on Earth will you air traffic control all these things flying in every direction and level and speed low down over a City?
Its bad enough with ATC over Europe and 1000 foot separation, slots and controlled airspace to avoid collisions.
With a dozen falling with their occupants into the City a day and killing whoever is unlucky enough to be walking underneath dream on UBER
Its bad enough with ATC over Europe and 1000 foot separation, slots and controlled airspace to avoid collisions.
With a dozen falling with their occupants into the City a day and killing whoever is unlucky enough to be walking underneath dream on UBER
Simple laws of physics show how much energy is needed to lift X amount of weight . No amount of fancy 21st century computer science is going to change that.
I'd go with the slide rule guys.
Sure lightweight materials for the airframe, motor and batteries will help, but I don't see them making anything with VTOL capability that can lift one or more occupants that cannot be done by any helicopter, and have something that has an acceptable noise footprint. Unlike an aeroplane VTOL machine uses maximum power for both take off and landing.
I'd go with the slide rule guys.
Sure lightweight materials for the airframe, motor and batteries will help, but I don't see them making anything with VTOL capability that can lift one or more occupants that cannot be done by any helicopter, and have something that has an acceptable noise footprint. Unlike an aeroplane VTOL machine uses maximum power for both take off and landing.
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The power, lift and endurance limitations will all be met. I cannot say when but it is fair to say that one/two person VTOL aircraft with reasonable payload and range will be technically achievable in the near future. But they will not be autonomous which will limit their appeal.
But when autonomous vehicles do exist there will be no limit to the number of crash-test dummies that will pay to have a ride in them. But before can plant their bums on the seats of these things, the mountains that will have to be overcome will be the sensor integration, reliability testing, failure handing and software. Manual control will not be an option. Simple events such as huge passengers with giant bags, medical emergencies, dogs chasing the landing gear, ingesting birthday balloons in cooling ducts, blocked/flooded/serviceable landing areas, tree growth, new (unauthorised) building works etc. will all have to be dealt with. And who will write the law to make these things safe to operate? Because to make them safe, the law will have to apply to virtually everything above ground. And then there are things we haven't thought about...
But when autonomous vehicles do exist there will be no limit to the number of crash-test dummies that will pay to have a ride in them. But before can plant their bums on the seats of these things, the mountains that will have to be overcome will be the sensor integration, reliability testing, failure handing and software. Manual control will not be an option. Simple events such as huge passengers with giant bags, medical emergencies, dogs chasing the landing gear, ingesting birthday balloons in cooling ducts, blocked/flooded/serviceable landing areas, tree growth, new (unauthorised) building works etc. will all have to be dealt with. And who will write the law to make these things safe to operate? Because to make them safe, the law will have to apply to virtually everything above ground. And then there are things we haven't thought about...
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Last edited by WeeJeem; 26th Oct 2016 at 14:40. Reason: Oops, missed out the link
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Single and two seat helicopters already exist. Electrically powered, man carrying drones are currently being built. Autonomous (to a degree) flight already exists. Joining all of them together is already possible but safety, endurance, price and payload are the challenges. WeeJeem I disagree with your implied never. History will prove one of us correct.
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To quote an old song:
They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
But ho, ho, ho!
Who's got the last laugh now?
They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound
They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother
When they said that man could fly
But ho, ho, ho!
Who's got the last laugh now?
Such drones will be built but whether or not they will ever be used in the manner Jeff Holden envisions is another thing altogether. First there are some major technical hurdles to be overcome.
Battery technology needs to improve markedly. Just think about the logistics of an aerial fleet of taxis buzzing around overhead keeping them all from colliding with each other and terrestrial objects and needing somewhere to land along with the all noise they will make.
Amazon's delivery drones will be up and running before we see the Uber drone system up and running. Overcoming consumer resistance to a pilotless aircraft will also be an issue.
I'd be very surprised to see a fully working Uber style passenger drone system it in my lifetime. I'm always up for for surprises though.
Battery technology needs to improve markedly. Just think about the logistics of an aerial fleet of taxis buzzing around overhead keeping them all from colliding with each other and terrestrial objects and needing somewhere to land along with the all noise they will make.
Amazon's delivery drones will be up and running before we see the Uber drone system up and running. Overcoming consumer resistance to a pilotless aircraft will also be an issue.
I'd be very surprised to see a fully working Uber style passenger drone system it in my lifetime. I'm always up for for surprises though.
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Whatever happened to development of that JetPack thing which was used in the opening ceremony of the Olympics at ( was it ) Los Angeles or Atlanta.
I remember thinking when I saw it ' Cool....I'd like one of those '....
That's the future of pizza deliveries !
I remember thinking when I saw it ' Cool....I'd like one of those '....
That's the future of pizza deliveries !
Last edited by Hussar 54; 10th Nov 2016 at 23:57.
