Bill Stromberg one of the engineers on the programme says they are addressing the low tail rotor problem as they are aware of concerns expressed and will fit 'some sort of' guard to stop crew walking into the low rear rotor. It seems quite clear that they are a bit unclear how this will work so it must be only on paper at the moment.
Bell have looked at a number of alternative options for replacing the tail rotor but again the story appears to be 'some sort of' new anti-torque system. Certainly no technology description was extracted and I suspect that little if any flight testing of the new system has yet taken place.
What is it?
Well it seems to be like Notar but rather than Coanda effect and lots of cold air from a seperately driven fan this sounds as if it might be a combination including hot efflux from the engine. Perhaps something like Cierva worked on back in 1948 or so.
The alternative system is simply not yet available for production and it will not be available for at least another three years.
At least the cabin looks just the thing the industry wants - THIS TIME!