Daimler backs radical eighteen rotor autonomous air taxi
Source: Daily Mail
German automobile firm Daimler and other investors have has invested more than $29 million dollars (25 million euro) in aviation start-up Volocopter.
Volocopter plans to use the money to invest in further developing its electrically powered, autonomous Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft and 'conquer' the market for flying air taxis.
Volocopter's 'Volocopter 2X' is a fully electric VTOL with 18 quiet rotors and a maximum airspeed of 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour - and it can transport two passengers without a pilot.
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Volocopter announced that in the fourth quarter of 2017, it will work with Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to conduct tests of its vehicle as an autonomous air taxi. The trial operations and certification program is expected to continue for five years
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4758620/Daimler-backs-radical-eighteen-rotor-autonomous-air-taxi.html
Ligyron
(7,644 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)vehicles?
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)Occasionally rushing a set of lungs from the airport to the hospital?
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)The original developer went out of business while it was under construction and it's just sitting there covered in paving stones because the lounge for the helicopter pad was converted to office space.
I would kill to commute like this.
DemoTex
(25,407 posts)All I see there, is a flying machine on the way to a crash. One word (and one system): the TRANSMISSION.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)At least in the same terms as an internal combustion powered aircraft would have. IC engines have a relatively narrow RPM range where the engine operates efficiently (or at all) and need different gear ratios to operate at all speeds. Electric engines can operate over a wider RPM range and don't need (as many) gear ratios, simplifying power transfer.
In fact, it could have 18 direct drive motors, eliminating the single point of failure that you bring up. Losing one motor/rotor would mean a 6% reduction in power, a lot more survivable than a 50% loss on an Osprey.
Comparing this thing to an Osprey is a grape to watermelon kind of deal, they both fly, but have no where near the same purpose.