Flying Car News, June 23
Boeing announces Gofly winners, including a Udacity student’s team!
This week’s top Flying Car News: Boeing announces Gofly winners, a Flying Car Nanodegree term 1 review, autonomous cargo drones, 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!
Boeing Announces Gofly Winners
Ten winning teams were announced for the first round of the $2 million Boeing Gofly competition to develop a compact personal VTOL aircraft for a single person capable of traveling up to 20 miles. Flying Car Nanodegree program student Bernd Rietberg’s Silverwing team was one of the winners headed to the second round. Udacity’s Flying Car students will be rooting for you Bernd!
“The GoFly Prize is unique in that we’ve been able to unite top engineers from around the world around one common goal — making people fly,” Gwen Lighter, CEO
Flying Car Nanodegree Program, Term 1 Review
Udacity Flying Car Nanodegree program student Darien Martinez Torrez wrote a blog post reviewing term 1 of the Flying Car Nanodegree. Spoiler: He loved it!
“The communication between your Python code and the simulator is done using Udacidrone, Udacity’s API to communicate with the drone. On a later lesson, they explain how to use the same code you use to connect to the simulator to control two drones: Intel Aero and Crazyflie 2.0.”
Autonomous Cargo Drones
Autonomous aircraft transport companies like Elroy Air and Sabrewing Aircraft are developing heavy duty autonomous cargo drones which are intended to replace delivery trucks over certain distances.
“According to a report by the Aerospace Industries Association, short-haul cargo drones will routinely operate nationwide at low altitudes in rural areas in the next seven to 13 years, with long-haul cargo drone flights joining the industry in around 15 years.”
Bell and Safran Collaborate on VTOL
At the Future of Transportation World Conference, Bell Helicopter and Safran announced that they will collaborate to create a hybrid VTOL air taxi.
“We can now offer Bell our hybrid electric power solutions for their next generation products that result in improved performance giving more value to our customers,” -Safran’s senior executive vice president of R&T and innovation, Stéphane Cueille.
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!
