MartinBishop

The Verge reports: "Chinese company Ehang caught our eye at CES earlier year, with the firm unveiling an autonomous quadcopter prototype it said was capable of ferrying human passengers without a pilot. We were wary of these unproven claims, but Ehang is obviously forging ahead with the vehicle. The company recently reached an agreement with Nevada's governor's office to develop the Ehang 184 at the state's FAA-approved UAV test site. However, this news should be taken with a pinch of salt: the Ehang 184 still isn't approved for testing by the FAA itself, and the company has yet to show a fully working prototype."

Ehang says it plans to begin testing at the FAA-approved site some time later this year. Some of the difficulties it will have to face include creating an autonomous navigation system that can detect small obstacles like power lines, creating and regulating fixed paths for air travel, and managing the limitations of battery life (Ehang claims the 184 has a maximum flight time of 23 minutes).



https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/0...ghts-in-nevada

daOldMan

Probably still 10 years away, but this has great potential for evacuating wounded soldiers from combat.

If we had these during Viet Nam, we would have saved thousands of lives.

DENpilot

Quad copters require ALL 4 motors to work. One goes out and you're guaranteed dead man. There are several reasons why this is a dumb idea.

daOldMan

Evac-ing seriously wounded from a battle field is worth the risk. Short of that, it is a disaster in the making.

iFlyRC

Should be more worried by Boeing and Airbuses efforts to remove at least one pilot from the cockpit with established technology.

Mesabah

Flag of convenience like NAI allows Boeing/Airbus to go ahead with single pilot aircraft. Full drone aircraft will not happen until computer technology advances beyond silicon, which is a long way off if ever.

iFlyRC

Interesting, first time I've seen some one link the two

Bawlz

So when that lone pilot has to pee, let the FA fly?

SayAlt