Flying Car News, June 2
Workhorse autonomous drone delivery, Urban Aero’s Flying Car, Uber’s French flying car technology center, and more!
This week’s top Flying Car News: Workhorse autonomous drone delivery, a long-range cargo drone that supplies ships, Urban Aero’s Flying Car, Uber’s French flying car technology center, and more!
Flying cars will be a significant part of the future of transportation. Recent advancements in drone technology, electric VTOL aircraft, and autonomous systems have paved the way for an aerial transportation revolution. We created the Udacity Flying Car News Series, to ensure you stay up-to-date on all the latest Flying Car and Autonomous Aircraft stories!
Workhorse Autonomous Drone Delivery
Ohio-based company Workhorse is starting to test its Horsefly autonomous delivery drone, which performs last-mile package deliveries from moving vans.
“By not only reducing the expense of last-mile delivery, but also providing the consumer with the ability to opt-in, visualize, and confirm their package delivery on their property, we have re-imagined home delivery.” — Steve Burns
Long-Range Cargo Drone Supplies Ships
Startup Volans-i is building drones which can carry 20-pound payloads up to 500 miles. These winged VTOL drones can land on small moving targets like ships out at sea.
“While many drone delivery businesses have focused on food and medical supplies, Volans-i aims to deliver heavy parts and equipment to factories, hospitals, construction sites, and ships at sea.”
Urban Aero Flying Car
Urban Aeronautics is developing a flying car prototype called Cormorant which features two large ducted fans and is powered by jet fuel.
“The internal, slow-turning rotors allow for a quieter performance of 70 decibels — 25 decibels quieter than an equivalent helicopter. The company expects the aircraft’s noise will blend in with city traffic from a block (or 820 feet) away.”
Uber’s French Flying Taxi Technology Center
Uber has announced that it will be building a flying taxi technology center in Paris and will spend €20 million over five years at the cite to further its Uber Elevate program.
“Initial projects will include: machine learning-based transport demand modeling, high-density low-altitude air traffic management simulations, integration of innovative airspace transport solutions with European aviation regulators such as EASA, and the development of smart grids to support future fleets of electric transport on the ground and in the air”
Drone Plants Seeds
The Canadian forest service is testing drone technology which can quickly plant tree seeds over large areas, by using paintball markers that shoot the seeds down into the ground.
“Essentially this thing could plant maybe at the rate of one seed every second. So if we want to want to plant a thousand trees, in a hectare for example, that would take a few minutes.”
If you are interested in joining the pioneering generation of engineers who will build the smart transportation systems of the future, discover Udacity’s Flying Car Nanodegree Program today!
And stay tuned for more Flying Car News!
