Nevada Enters Agreement to Develop Passenger-Carrying Drone
Luciana Mangas June 13, 2016
Nevada’s Governor’s Office and Ehang Inc. have reached a historic agreement recently. The Verge reports that the Chinese company presented Ehang 184, a prototype autonomous quadcopter that could carry human passengers on autopilot.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems (NIAS) have entered an agreement with the company to develop the Ehang 184 at the state’s FAA-approved UAV test site. While that does not mean that the prototype has been approved by the FAA for testing, it is a step forward in potentially creating a new form of transportation.
In an official press release, Tom Wilczek, GOED’s Aerospace and Defense Industry Specialist, says the state will help Ehang through the FAA regulatory process.
“The State of Nevada, through NIAS, will help guide EHang … with the ultimate goal of achieving safe flight,” said Tom Wilczek, “EHang’s selection of Nevada to test its people-carrying drone marks a thrilling addition to the innovative companies testing throughout our state to advance the commercial drone industry. I personally look forward to the day when drone taxis are part of Nevada’s transportation system.”
Ehang’s CEO, Huazhi Hu, says that this is “a big step for EHang 184 to move forward to government regulatory approval of the unprecedented innovation in U.S. and globally, which will lay the foundation for its commercialization and building up the aerial transportation ecosystem in the future.” Testing at the FAA-approved site is set to begin sometime this year.
The Verge, however, says that this news should be “taken with a pinch of salt,” as Ehang Inc. has yet to show a functional prototype. According to the online publication, while the thought of a personal helicopter is exciting, there are still many obstacles to overcome, like creating and regulating fixed paths for air travel and battery life, as Ehang 184 only has a maximum of 23 minutes of flight time, according to the Chinese company.
[Photo: Ehang]
Great .... and aircraft with 8 single-point-of-failures! If any of the 8 props jams, there's one drone loving family left. The quad, hex, octo-copters are sweet designs for UAVs as they are unbeatably cheap to build compared to the complex rotor structure of a helicopter ... but they are inherently unsafe.
Was just a matter of time and this will make any border wall as obsolete as the maginot line was.